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Nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLRs), classified as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), play crucial roles in innate immune responses. However, research on this topic in crustaceans remains limited. In the present study, 27 NLR family members were identified and characterized based on the redclaw crayfish genome. Gene structure, conserved domain, and motif analyses revealed that these NLR genes were classified into four subfamilies with three major domains, and phylogenetic and structural analyses further confirmed their evolutionary conservation. qRT-PCR analysis showed that the relative expression levels of several NLR genes changed significantly under the DIV1 challenge. More importantly, in vivo silencing of NAWD1 gene in Cherax quadricarinatus promoted DIV1 replication . These findings, together with those of previous studies, suggest that NLR genes in crustaceans may play a key role in immune responses to viral infections.

The Chiehyuan herbal oral protection solution (GB-2) is a herbal mixture commonly utilized in Taiwan for combating severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) as per traditional Chinese medicine practices. This study assessed the clinical impact of GB-2 through prospective clinical trials. With twice-daily use for a week, GB-2 was shown to diminish the expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in oral mucosal cells. Moreover, after two weeks of use, it could reduce transmembrane protease, serine 2 (TMRPSS2) expression in these cells. Additionally, in vitro experiments demonstrated that GB-2 lessened the entry efficiency of the Omicron, L452R–D614G, T478K–D614G, and L452R–T478K–D614G variants of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped lentivirus. It also impeded the interaction between ACE2 and the receptor-binding domain (RBD) presenting N501Y–K417N–E484A–G339D–Q493R–G496S–Q498R and L452R–T478K mutations. Glycyrrhizic acid, a major compound in GB-2, also hindered the entry of the Omicron variant (BA.1) of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped lentivirus by obstructing the binding between ACE2 and the RBD presenting the N501Y–K417N–E484A–G339D–Q493R–G496S–Q498R mutation. To sum up, these findings suggest that GB-2 can decrease ACE2 and TMPRSS2 expression in oral mucosal cells. Both glycyrrhizic acid and GB-2 were found to reduce the entry efficiency of the Omicron variant (BA.1) of the SARS-CoV-2 pseudotyped lentivirus and block the binding between ACE2 and the RBD with the N501Y–K417N–E484A–G339D–Q493R–G496S–Q498R mutation. This evidence implies that GB-2 might be a potential candidate for further study as a preventative measure against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background/purpose: Covering the wounds from guided bone regeneration and sinus floor elevation with oral and sinus mucosa is a fundamental criterion for success. This study aimed to verify the regeneration capability of the mucosal connective tissue stromal cells by characterizing their stemness and osteogenic potentials. Methods: Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), alveolar mucosa cells (AMCs), keratinized gingival cells (KGCs), and sinus mucosal cells (SMCs), were isolated from four Sprague–Dawley rats. The morphology and viability of the cells were investigated under a confocal microscope and by Alamar Blue. Stem cell surface markers were evaluated by flow cytometry. Expressions of pluripotent factors after initial seeding and an early osteogenic gene following 24 h of osteoinduction were evaluated by realtime PCR. Trilineage differentiation capability in long-term inductive cell culture was assessed by Alizarin Red, Alcian Blue, and Oil Red O staining. Results: BMSCs and AMCs were larger cells with smaller aspect ratios relative to KGCs and SMCs, and BMSCs revealed the greatest initial viability but the slowest proliferation. More than 94% of BMSCs, AMCs, and KGCs were double-positive for CD73 and CD90. Compared with BMSCs, AMCs expressed significantly higher Oct4 but reduced Cbfa1 after initial seeding, and AMCs and SMCs expressed significantly higher Cbfa1 following 24 h of osteoinduction. In long-term inductive cell culture, osteogenesis was observed in BMSCs, AMCs, and SMCs, chondrogenesis was observed in BMSCs, AMCs, and KGCs, and adipogenesis was evident in only BMSCs. Conclusion: AMCs contain a high percentage of stem/progenitor cells and show differentiation capability toward osteogenic lineage.

Background/Purpose: Supracrestal ridge augmentation (SRA) is a major challenge for clinicians. This study investigated the efficacy of a 3D-printed (3DP) hydroxyapatite/poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (HA/PLGA) scaffold as a potential biologic for SRA. Methods: Scaffolds that were 5 mm in diameter and 2.5-mm thick with a 1.2-mm diameter through-and-through central hole composed of 90% HA and 10% PLGA were printed using an extrusion-based bioprinter. The HA/PLGA scaffold was fixed with a 1.2-mm titanium mini-implant on the buccal surface of rat mandible (Ti-HPS), and the outcome of SRA were compared with sites treated with a titanium mini-implant alone (control) and a titanium mini-implant covered with deproteinized bovine bone-derived matrix (Ti-DBBM) at 4 and 8 weeks by microcomputed tomography (micro-CT), back-scattered SEM, and histology assessments. Results: The HA/PLGA scaffolds were 2.486 ± 0.082 mm thick with an outer diameter of 4.543 ± 0.057 mm and an inner diameter of 1.089 ± 0.045 mm, and the pore dimensions were 0.48–0.52 mm. There was significantly more mineralized tissue in the Ti-DBBM and Ti-HPS groups than in the control group at both time points. Newly formed bone (NB) was well-integrated with the DBBM and HA/PLGA scaffolds. The framework of the 3DP-HA/PLGA scaffold remained in place, and NB-implant contact (NBIC) was advanced to the middle level in the Ti-HPS group until 8 weeks, whereas dispersion of DBBM with a lower level NBIC was noted in the Ti-DBBM group at both time points. Conclusion: The 3DP HA/PLGA scaffold maintains supracrestal space and demonstrates osteoconductivity to facilitate SRA.

At the time of writing, more than 440 million confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and more than 5.97 million COVID-19 deaths worldwide have been reported by the World Health Organization since the start of the outbreak of the pandemic in Wuhan, China. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many variants of SARS-CoV-2 have arisen because of high mutation rates. N501Y, E484K, K417N, K417T, L452R and T478K in the receptor binding domain (RBD) region may increase the infectivity in several variants of SARS-CoV-2. In this study, we discovered that GB-1, developed from Chiehyuan herbal formula which obtained from Tian Shang Sheng Mu of Chiayi Puzi Peitian Temple, can inhibit the binding between ACE2 and RBD with Wuhan type, K417N-E484K-N501Y and L452R-T478K mutation. In addition, GB-1 inhibited the binding between ACE2 and RBD with a single mutation (E484K or N501Y), except the K417N mutation. In the compositions of GB-1, glycyrrhizic acid can inhibit the binding between ACE2 and RBD with Wuhan type, except K417N-E484K-N501Y mutation. Our results suggest that GB-1 could be a potential candidate for the prophylaxis of different variants of SARS-CoV-2 infection because of its inhibition of binding between ACE2 and RBD with different mutations (L452R-T478K, K417N-E484K-N501Y, N501Y or E484K).

Since the start of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 in Wuhan, China, there have been more than 150 million confirmed cases of the disease reported to the World Health Organization. The beta variant (B.1.351 lineage), the mutation lineages of SARS-CoV-2, had increase transmissibility and resistance to neutralizing antibodies due to multiple mutations in the spike protein. N501Y, K417N and E484K, in the receptor binding domain (RBD) region may induce a conformational change of the spike protein and subsequently increase the infectivity of the beta variant. The L452R mutation in the epsilon variant (the B.1.427/B.1.429 variants) also reduced neutralizing activity of monoclonal antibodies. In this study, we discovered that 300 μg/mL GB-2, from Tian Shang Sheng Mu of Chiayi Puzi Peitian Temple, can inhibit the binding between ACE2 and wild-type (Wuhan type) RBD spike protein. GB-2 can inhibit the binding between ACE2 and RBD with K417N-E484K-N501Y mutation in a dose-dependent manner. GB-2 inhibited the binding between ACE2 and the RBD with a single mutation (K417N or N501Y or L452R) except the E484K mutation. In the compositions of GB-2, glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC., theaflavin and (+)-catechin cannot inhibit the binding between ACE2 and wild-type RBD spike protein. Theaflavin 3-gallate can inhibit the binding between ACE2 and wild-type RBD spike protein. Our results suggest that GB-2 could be a potential candidate for the prophylaxis of some SARS-CoV-2 variants infection in the further clinical study because of its inhibition of binding between ACE2 and RBD with K417N-E484K-N501Y mutations or L452R mutation.

Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge) is broadly utilized in traditional Chinese medicine for lung cancer. However, it’s exact effort and mechanism on lung cancer is fully unclear. In this study, we found that dihydroisotanshinone I (DT), a pure compound extracted from danshen, can inhibit the growth of A549 cells and H460 cells. DT also induced apoptosis and ferroptosis in these lung cancer cells. DT also blocking the protein expression of GPX4 (Glutathione peroxidase 4). For in vivo study, DT treatment can inhibit metastasis of A549 cells in the nude mice model without adverse effects on mice. In conclusion, DT inhibited the growth of lung cancer cells through apoptosis and ferroptosis and inhibited metastasis of A549 cells in the nude mice model. Further studies are warranted to validate the findings of this study.

Background: The Chang Gung Research Database (CGRD) is a de-identified database derived from original medical records of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (CGMH), which comprises seven medical institutes located from the northeast to southern regions of Taiwan. The volume of medical services performed in CGMH is large, and clinical and scientific studies based on the CGRD are reported to be of high quality. However, the CGRD as a useful database for research has not been analyzed before. The objective of the study was to analyze the CGRD with regard to its characteristics and coverage of Taiwan's population. Methods: We performed a nationwide cohort study using population-based data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). All patients who had any medical record of outpatient visits or admission between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2010, were included, and the sex ratio, age distribution, socioeconomic status, urbanicity, severity of illness, prevalence of specific disease, and coverage of the CGRD were analyzed. Results: The sex ratio, age distribution, socioeconomic status, and urbanicity of the population of the CGRD are different from those of Taiwan NHIRD and medical centers in Taiwan (all the pairwise p

This study provides the first systematic data on the distribution of short- (SCCPs) and medium chlorinated paraffins (MCCPs) in the atmosphere and surface soils of Lahore, Pakistan. The spatial distribution of SCCPs and MCCPs in air (n = 12) and soil (n = 15) was investigated from industrial, residential, commercial, conventional e-waste burning and background areas of Lahore. The concentrations ranged from below the limit of detection (3 . Higher CPs contaminated soil and air were observed in industrial and commercial areas likely due to the use of CPs as flame retardants/plasticizers in products and metalworking. Total organic carbon (TOC), SCCPs and MCCPs in soil were not correlated with each other however, a significant association between SCCPs and MCCPs was observed in air samples. Among all the samples of soil and air C 10, Cl 7 - 8 and C 14,16 Cl 7 - 8 were the predominant congeners for SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively. The comprehensive investigation of soil-air exchange for SCCPs and MCCPs revealed approximately 67 % of fugacity fractions (ffs) above 0.7, indicating net volatilization for most of the congeners. This study also revealed a notably high emission flux for SCCPs and MCCPs compared to their deposition flux, indicating that soil acted as a major source of CPs. Additionally, the emission flux for SCCPs was higher than for MCCPs, owing to their greater volatility and transport potential. A preliminary risk assessment suggested limited risks (Risk quotient <0.02) to the soil community while, the adult and toddler community had daily intakes of 5.7 and 7.2 ng/kg/day of CPs, respectively via different pathways highlighting the hotspots with high risk areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recent randomized trial data showed fewer strokes with left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) after cardiac surgery in patients with atrial fibrillation. This study developed a quality initiative to increase LAAO adoption., Methods: Among 11,099 patients who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) between January 2019 and March 2021 at 33 hospitals in Michigan, those patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent first-time, on-pump CABG were eligible (n = 1241). A goal LAAO rate of 75% was selected as a quality improvement target through a statewide collaborative. An interrupted time series analysis evaluated the change in LAAO rate before implementation (January to December 2019) vs after implementation (January 2020 to March 2021)., Results: Implementation of the quality metric improved the LAAO rate from 61% (357 of 581) before implementation to 79% (520 of 660) after implementation (P < .001). Compared with patients who did not undergo concomitant LAAO, patients who underwent LAAO (71%; 877 of 1241) were older, more frequently male, and had a lower The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality score (2.9% ± 3.5% vs 3.7% ± 5.7%; P = .003), whereas other baseline characteristics, including CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke or transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age 65-74 years, female sex category) scores, were similar. Mean bypass and cross-clamp times were 7 and 6 minutes longer, respectively, in the LAAO group among patients who did not undergo concomitant ablation. Operative mortality, major morbidity, blood product administration, and thromboembolic events were similar between the groups. Interrupted time series analysis showed a significant increase in LAAO rate after implementation (P = .009)., Conclusions: LAAO in patients with atrial fibrillation who underwent isolated CABG did not add operative risk vs isolated CABG without LAAO. A statewide quality improvement initiative was successful in increasing the rate of concomitant LAAO and could be further evaluated as a potential quality metric in cardiac surgery., Competing Interests: Disclosures Alexander A. Brescia has served as an Associate Editor for Digital Media and Digital Scholarship for The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. Steven F. Bolling has served as a consultant for Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corporation, Medtronic, and W.L. Gore and Associates. Gorav Ailawadi has served as a consultant for Abbott Vascular, Admedus Corporation, Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, and W.L. Gore and Associates; and has served on the Data and Safety Monitoring Board of AtriCure. All other authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of Australia's biggest cities, Melbourne, experienced three major isolation ("lockdown") periods in 2020 (160 days) and in 2021 (111 days) which makes it one of the most locked down cities world-wide. This study assessed how the pandemic affected temporal trends in methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine consumption using wastewater-based epidemiology. Daily samples were collected for most of 2020 and 2021 (n = 660 days). Concentrations were measured using direct-injection LC-MS/MS and back-calculated to consumption estimates. Results indicate that methamphetamine use was increasing before the first lockdown and decreased after the end of the first lockdown in 2020. Methamphetamine trends appeared to have remained steady throughout the second lockdown period before increasing steeply after it ended. For most of 2020, cocaine use remained steady, with an increase after the second lockdown. MDMA use decreased after the start of the first lockdown and remained steady throughout most of 2020 and 2021. In comparison to 2020, trends in 2021 were less variable and stimulant use did not appear to be as associated with COVID-19 restrictions. Overall, this study was able to show the impact of lockdown periods and the related social restrictions on illicit stimulant use. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATION: Illicit drugs are hazardous chemicals, of concern both to humans and the environment. While studies have been undertaken to understand their temporal trends, this work utilizes wastewater-based epidemiology and daily sampling to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of methamphetamine, MDMA and cocaine on one of the most locked-down cities in the world. Understanding the consequences of this significant intervention on illicit drug use could provide valuable insights into its potential environmental impact., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has gained increasing importance in molecular detection due to its high specificity and sensitivity. Complex biofluids (e.g., cell lysates and serums) typically contain large numbers of different bio-molecules with various concentrations, making it extremely challenging to be reliably and comprehensively characterized via conventional single SERS spectra due to uncontrollable electromagnetic hot spots and irregular molecular motions. The traditional approach of directly reading out the single SERS spectra or calculating the average of multiple spectra is less likely to take advantage of the full information of complex biofluid systems., Results: Herein, we propose to construct a spectral set with unordered multiple SERS spectra as a novel representation strategy to characterize full molecular information of complex biofluids. This new SERS representation not only contains details from each single spectra but captures the temporal/spatial distribution characteristics. To address the ordering-independent property of traditional chemometric methods (e.g., the Euclidean distance and the Pearson correlation coefficient), we introduce Wasserstein distance (WD) to quantitatively and comprehensively assess the quality of spectral sets on biofluids. WD performs its superiority for the quantitative assessment of the spectral sets. Additionally, WD benefits from its independence of the ordering of spectra in a spectral set, which is undesirable for traditional chemometric methods. With experiments on cell lysates and human serums, we successfully achieve the verification for the reproducibility between parallel samples, the uniformity at different positions in the same sample, the repeatability from multiple tests at one location of the same sample, and the cardinality effect of the spectral set. SERS spectral sets also manage to distinguish different classes of human serums and achieve higher accuracy than the traditional prostate-specific antigen in prostate cancer classification., Significance: The proposed SERS spectral set is a robust representation approach in accessing full information of biological samples compared to relying on a single or averaged spectra in terms of reproducibility, uniformity, repeatability, and cardinality effect. The application of WD further demonstrates the effectiveness and robustness of spectral sets in characterizing complex biofluid samples, which extends and consolidates the role of SERS., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Pearl River Estuary (PRE), one of the primary e-waste recycling centers in the world, has been suffering from the pollution of Liquid Crystal Monomers (LCMs), critical materials with persistent, bio-accumulative, and toxic substances used in electronic devices. It has been detected in seabed sediment with both high frequency and concentration near PRE - Hong Kong (HK) waters. In the same area, dredging operations with in-situ sediment have been frequently used in the last decades for coastal land reclamation projects. Dredging is known to cause a huge amount of sediment re-suspension into water columns, with potential damage to marine ecosystems and biodiversity. In this study, we proposed a new risk assessment strategy to estimate the secondary pollution due to the re-suspension sediment highly contaminated by LCMs. We formulate a robust and reliable probabilistic approach based on unsupervised machine learning and hydrodynamic and sediment transport numerical simulation. New risk indexes were also proposed to better quantify the impact of contaminated sediments. We applied the methodology to assess the potential impact of dredging operations in the PRE and Hong Kong waters on the local marine ecosystem. The results of the analysis showed how the potentially contaminated areas depended on the dredging locations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Short (SCCPs) and medium (MCCPs) chain chlorinated paraffins being the emerging organic pollutants have raised serious concerns due to their widespread use and related human health risks. However, their occurrence in aquatic bodies like rivers and associated damage to ecological integrity is yet unknown in some regions of the world. The current study is the first ever assessment of SCCPs and MCCPs in sediment and water of river Ravi, Pakistan. Spatial occurrence and associated ecological risks were investigated from sediments (n = 16) and composite water samples (n = 8) collected at eight locations along the stretch of river Ravi. The concentrations of SCCPs and MCCPs varied from below limit of detection (10,12,13 Cl 7-8 and C 14,16,17 Cl 7-8 were dominant of SCCPs and MCCPs in water and sediments, respectively. The partitioning coefficient for organic carbon (log K oc ) varied parabolically with chlorine number (P < 0.01) of SCCPs and MCCPs suggesting increased adsorption of medium chlorinated congeners in sediments. Ecological risk assessment illustrated limited effects on aquatic organism as a result of CPs exposure, however, their elevated concentrations predict ecological damage in future. Thus, in-depth investigation of CPs encompassing spatio-temporal distribution in water and sediments of rivers as well as their toxicity in aquatic organism including fish and human health is needful in future studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest at personal and/or organizational level., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Microvascular injury resulting from activation and exocytosis are early signs of tissue damage caused by allografting. However, humoral anti-graft reactions are not easily detectable in transplant biopsies. The aim of this study was to establish a bioassay to recapitulate this process in a prospective approach., Methods: The study was executed by using our previously established protocol to isolate and freeze the donors' microvascular endothelial cells (MVEC) at the transplantation (34 living-related donors and 26 cadaver donors); and to collect sera from the recipients before the transplantation, one-, three- and six-months after transplantation. The activation and exocytosis of the MVEC were determined by incubating the donors' cultures with the recipients' sera. We determined if there was any endothelial activation by quantifying the releases of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) in supernatants and the expressions of membrane intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (CD54) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (CD106) by flow cytometry. Endothelial exocytosis was determined by quantifying soluble E-selectin (CD62E) and cytoplasmic von Willebrand Factor (vWF) in supernatants. Endothelial activation or exocytosis was considered positive when the fold change (≧1.5) of post-transplantation to pre-transplantation was reached. We also monitored serum PRA and cytokines using Luminex multiple-plex and cytometric bead-based assay respectively., Results: We found 41.2% recipients (14 out of 34, ranging from 1.5 to 5.2 folds, p < 0.05) exhibited positive MVEC activation in the first month after transplantation as determined by IL-8 levels; 26.5% recipients (9 out of 34, ranging from 1.5 to 11.8 folds, p < 0.05) by MCP-1 levels. In the group of three months post-transplantation, 70.6% patients were positive (12 out of 17, ranging from 1.8 to 87.1 folds, p < 0.05) by IL-8 increased levels; 24% recipients (4 out of 17, ranging from 1.8 to 50.5 folds, p < 0.05) measured by MCP-1 levels. However, these changes disappeared six months after transplantation. Flow cytometric data showed that a time-dependent of CD54+ and CD106+ expressions existed over the course of six months. Most CD54+ and CD106+ cells were CD31- (platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1), though CD31+/CD106+ (37.5%, 3 out of 8) and CD31+/CD106+ (25%. 2 out of 8) were seen. When comparing donor MVEC activation to their recipient's proinflammatory cytokine levels or PRA status, we could not draw a conclusion regarding the connections between them. The sera collected from recipients at either one- or three-months after allografting did not significantly induce the release of either soluble CD62E or vWF (p > 0.05), indicating exocytosis was not significantly involved in the acute phase of allografting., Conclusions: This bioassay enables us to detect the activation and exocytosis of donor MVEC elicited by respective sera from mismatched kidney recipients., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The large usage of Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in consumer products leads to ubiquitous distribution globally, however, studies on the occurrence of their debromination compounds were rather scarce. Also, though many studies illustrate the effectiveness of hair analysis to assess human exposure to organic pollutants, evidence on the associations with health implications is still fairly limited. Herein, 598 participants from across China were employed to investigate chronic, low-level exposure to TBBPA and debromination products by hair analysis. The geomean concentrations of TBBPA, 2,2',6-tribromobisphenol A (Tri-BBPA), 2,2'- and 2,6-dibromobisphenol A (Di-BBPA), and 2-monobromobisphenol A (Mo-BBPA) were 1.07, 0.145, 0.135, and 0.894 ng/g, respectively, indicating nonnegligible health risks of debromination products. Hair analyte levels correlated with population age and population density among sampling regions. Sexual- and spatial-variations were observed with higher concentrations in females and in E-waste recycling sites. Logistic regression models showed that TBBPA exposure (adjusted odds ratio (OR): 1.02, 95 % confidential interval (CI): 1.01-1.05) was positively associated with risk of metabolic syndrome by adjusting for various covariates. These findings imply usefulness of hair as an alternative biomonitoring tool to assess human exposure to TBBPA and relative health effects, which highlights public concerns on co-exposure to these chemicals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Bacterial infection has been regarded as a life-threatening problem in clinic. In addition to screening of new antibiotics, it is important to develop highly effective antibacterial materials against antibiotic resistance with capacities on modulating chronic inflammation. Herein, aligned Chlorin e6 (Ce6) conjugated silk fibroin electrospun fibers were successfully fabricated on silk fibroin based film via electrospining to achieve effective photodynamic antibacterial activities under near infrared (NIR) irradiation. The aligned electrospun fiber based film composite (SFCF@Film) exhibited good mechanical properties and desirable hemocompatibility. SFCF@Film provided a promising guidance cue for directing cell orientation and promoting cell growth. Significantly, SFCF@Film effectively generated ROS under NIR irradiation to kill S. aureus for treating wound infections within 10 min and promoted M2 polarization of macrophages for wound healing at later stage. Therefore, we believed that this engineered bioscaffold can be a powerful strategy for handling wound infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Breast fibroadenomas and phyllodes tumors are both fibroepithelial tumors with comparable histological characteristics. However, rapid and precise differential diagnosis is a tough point in clinical pathology. Given the tendency of phyllodes tumors to recur, the difficulty in differential diagnosis with fibroadenomas leads to the difficulty in optimal management for these patients., Method: In this study, we used Raman spectroscopy to differentiate phyllodes tumors from breast fibroadenomas based on the biochemical and metabolic composition and develop a classification model. The model was validated by 5-fold cross-validation in the training set and tested in an independent test set. The potential metabolic differences between the two types of tumors observed in Raman spectroscopy were confirmed by targeted metabolomic analysis using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS)., Results: A total of 204 patients with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples, including 100 fibroadenomas and 104 phyllodes tumors were recruited from April 2014 to August 2021. All patients were randomly divided into the training cohort (n = 153) and the test cohort (n = 51). The Raman classification model could differentiate phyllodes tumor versus fibroadenoma with cross-validation accuracy, sensitivity, precision, and area under curve (AUC) of 85.58 % ± 1.77 %, 83.82 % ± 1.01 %, 87.65 % ± 4.22 %, and 93.18 % ± 1.98 %, respectively. When tested in the independent test set, it performed well with the test accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of 83.50 %, 86.54 %, 80.39 %, and 90.71 %. Furthermore, the AUC was significantly higher for the Raman model than that for ultrasound (P = 0.0017) and frozen section diagnosis (P < 0.0001). When it came to much more difficult diagnosis between fibroadenoma and benign or small-size phyllodes tumor for pathological examination, the Raman model was capable of differentiating with AUC up to 97.45 % and 95.61 %, respectively. On the other hand, targeted metabolomic analysis, based on fresh-frozen tissue samples, confirmed the differential metabolites (including thymine, dihydrothymine, trans-4-hydroxy-l-proline, etc.) identified from Raman spectra between phyllodes tumor and fibroadenoma., Significance and Novelty: In this study, we obtained the molecular information map of breast phyllodes tumors provided by Raman spectroscopy for the first time. We identified a novel Raman fingerprint signature with the potential to precisely characterize and distinguish phyllodes tumors from fibroadenoma as a quick and accurate diagnostic tool. Raman spectroscopy is expected to further guide the precise diagnosis and optimal treatment of breast fibroepithelial tumors in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Environmental antimicrobial pollution and antimicrobial resistance pose a threat to environmental and human health. Wastewater analysis has been identified as a promising tool for antimicrobial monitoring and the back-estimation of antimicrobial consumption, but current pretreatment methods are tedious and complicated, limiting their scope for high-throughput analysis. A sensitive direct injection method for the quantification of 109 antimicrobials and their metabolites in wastewater samples was developed using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The method was validated for both wastewater influent and effluent in terms of specificity, calibration range, matrix effect, filtration loss, accuracy, precision, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ). Most analytes achieved calibration of R 2  > 0.99, and the calibration range was from 0.0002 to 150 μg L -1 . Recoveries ranged consistently between ~50 % and ~100 % and losses were attributed to sample filtration. Method LOQs were determined as low as 0.0003 μg L -1 , and acceptable accuracy (75 %-125 %) and precision (within 25 %) were achieved for >90 % of the analytes. The method was subsequently further assessed using wastewater of raw influent and treated effluent collected from 6 Australian wastewater treatment plants in 2021. In total, 37 analytes were detected in influent and 22 in effluent. Most of them could be quantified at concentrations ranging from 0.0053 to 160 μg L -1 , with benzalkonium chloride-C12, amoxicilloic acid, and cephalexin detected at the highest concentrations. The current study provides a straightforward analytical method for antimicrobial monitoring in wastewater with a fast and simple pretreatment procedure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Intracellular metabolic profiling reveals real-time metabolic information useful for the study of underlying mechanisms of cells in particular conditions such as drug resistance. However, mass spectrometry (MS), one of the leading metabolomics technologies, usually requires a large number of cells and complex pretreatments. Surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) has an ultrahigh detection sensitivity and specificity, favorable for metabolomics analysis. However, some targeted SERS methods focus on very limited metabolite without global bioprofiling, and some label-free approaches try to fingerprint the metabolic response based on whole SERS spectral classification, but comprehensive interpretation of biological mechanisms was lacking. (95) RESULTS: We proposed a label-free SERS technique for intracellular metabolic profiling in complex cellular lysates within 3 min. We first compared three kinds of cellular lysis methods and sonication lysis shows the highest extraction efficiency of metabolites. To obtain comprehensive metabolic information, we collected a spectral set for each sample and further qualified them by the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) to calculate how many spectra should be acquired at least to gain the adequate information from a statistical and global view. In addition, according to our measurements with 10 pure metabolites, we can understand the spectra acquired from complex cellular lysates of different cell lines more precisely. Finally, we further disclosed the variations of 22 SERS bands in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer cells and some are associated with the androgen receptor signaling activity and the methionine salvage pathway in the drug resistance process, which shows the same metabolic trends as MS. (149) SIGNIFICANCE: Our technique has the capability to capture the intracellular metabolic fingerprinting with the optimized lysis approach and spectral set collection, showing high potential in rapid, sensitive and global metabolic profiling in complex biosamples and clinical liquid biopsy. This gives a new perspective to the study of SERS in insightful understanding of relevant biological mechanisms. (54)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions on alcohol consumption in Australia remains unclear. High-resolution daily samples from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) which served one of the largest cities in Australia, Melbourne, were analysed for temporal trends in alcohol consumption under extended periods of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. Melbourne experienced two major lockdowns in 2020, which divided the year of 2020 into five periods (pre-lockdown, first lockdown, between lockdown, second lockdown and post second-lockdown). In this study, daily sampling identified shifts in alcohol consumption during different periods of restrictions. Alcohol consumption in the first lockdown period, when bars closed and social and sports events ceased, was lower than pre-lockdown period. However, alcohol consumption was higher in the second lockdown period than the previous lockdown period. There were spikes in alcohol consumption at the start and end of each lockdown (except for post lockdown). For most of 2020, the usual weekday-weekend variations in alcohol consumption were less evident but there was a significant difference in alcohol consumption between weekdays and weekends after the second lockdown. This suggests that drinking patterns eventually returned to normal after the end of the second lockdown. This study demonstrates the usefulness of high-resolution wastewater sampling in evaluating the effects on alcohol consumption of social interventions in specific temporal locations., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated substantial medical waste (MW), posing risks to society. Based on widespread MW incineration, this study proposes an integrated system with tail gas treatment to convert MW into value-added products with nearly zero emissions. Herein, steam generators and supercritical CO 2 cycles were used to recover energy from MW to produce high-temperature/pressure steam and electricity. A simple power generation cycle achieved a net electricity efficiency of 22.4% through optimization. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the most energy and exergy loss occurred in incineration. Furthermore, a pressurized reactive distillation column purified the resultant tail gas. The effects of inlet temperature, pressure, liquid/gas ratio, and recycle ratio on the removal and conversion efficiencies of NO 2 and SO 2 were evaluated. Nearly 100% of the SO 2 and 75% of the NO 2 generated by the incineration of MW have been converted into their acid forms. Based on the proposed tail gas treatment unit, high-purity CO 2 (∼98% purity) was finally obtained., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The role of operative approach in surgical lymphadenectomies and pathologic nodal upstaging for lung cancer remains unclear., Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer from January 2015 to December 2020 at 16 centers within a statewide quality improvement collaborative in Michigan. Patients were stratified by operative approach, and our primary end points were number of LN recovered, number of LN stations sampled, and rates of nodal upstaging with nodal upstaging defined as a higher final pathologic nodal stage compared with preoperative clinical nodal staging., Results: A total of 3036 patients were included: 608 (20.0%) with open lobectomies, 1362 (41.3%) with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and 1233 (37.4%) with robot-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (RATS) lobectomies. Using multivariable logistic regression, study investigators found that VATS was associated with lower rates of nodal upstaging (odds ratio [OR], 0.71; 95% CI, 0.54-0.94; P = .015) and harvesting ≥10 LNs (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.31-0.50; P < .001) as compared with open surgery, whereas no significant difference was found between RATS and open techniques. Compared with open surgery, VATS had lower rates of sampling at ≥5 nodal stations (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.53-0.84; P = .001), whereas RATS rates were higher (OR, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.85-3.06; P < .001)., Conclusions: VATS lobectomies were associated with lower rates of harvesting ≥10 LNs, sampling ≥5 LN stations, and pathologic nodal upstaging compared with open and RATS lobectomies. Compared with open procedures, RATS lobectomies were associated with higher rates of sampling ≥5 LN stations, but there was no significant difference between open and RATS approaches in rates of nodal upstaging or harvesting ≥10 LNs., (Copyright © 2023 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The prognosis analysis of gastric cancer is critical for selection of treatments and development of advanced therapeutic methods. A prognosis approach that is accurate, fast, convenient, and of low cost for gastric cancers is in high demand. Raman spectroscopy is a label-free and non-destructive technique to provide molecular fingerprints of biological samples, holding promises for cancer prognosis. However, the major challenge of gastric cancer prognosis lies in the widely existing tumor heterogeneity, which leads to unexpected spectral variations within one type of samples. In this work, we have developed the Euclidean distance (ED)-based Raman spectroscopy (EDRS) method for the prognosis analysis of gastric cancer to eliminate the influence of tumor heterogeneity. Raman spectra were first collected on the slices of paraffin-preserved tumor tissues from gastric cancer patients. A standard spectrum to represent the 'worst prognostic tumor cells' was then established. The similarity between each spectrum of tissues and the standard spectrum was assessed by ED, to provide a direct assessment on the prognosis status. We have successfully classified the patients into poor and favorable prognosis groups, either based on the averaged regional ED values (sensitivity of 75 %, specificity of 96.8 %), or based on the minimal ED values at the patient level (sensitivity of 90 %, specificity of 100 %). EDRS was also investigated for survival analysis (AUC = 0.955), much better than the commonly applied post-neoadjuvant therapy (ypTNM) category (AUC = 0.718). Our work highlights EDRS as a rapid, accurate, low-cost and robust tool for heterogeneous cancer-related prognosis assessment and survival prediction, providing new insights for spectroscopic tumor analysis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Nine traditional phthalate plasticizers and 33 novel non-phthalate plasticizers were determined in indoor dust from a typical e-waste recycling area. The median concentrations ranged from Dakeng > Baihetang > Shiding > Jieyang, which was consistent with the local e-waste dismantling activities and supported by polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) levels. The correlations between chemical levels and the indicators indicated that most phthalates and non-phthalate plasticizers in the dust, might not be primarily influenced by e-waste emission sources. Additionally, the estimated median human exposures of phthalates and non-phthalates via dust ingestion were 30.6 and 1.82 ng/kg/day for adults, and 299 and 17.8 ng/kg/day for toddlers respectively, indicating negligible health risks., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Recent guidelines for the treatment of moderate or severe ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) have changed. This study assessed the real-world impact of changing guidelines on the management of IMR during CABG over time. We hypothesized that the utilization of mitral valve repair for IMR would decrease over time, whereas mitral valve replacement for severe IMR would increase., Methods: Patients undergoing CABG in a statewide collaborative database (2011-2020) were stratified by severity of IMR. Trends in mitral valve repair or replacement were evaluated. To account for differences of the patients, propensity score-matched analyses were used to compare patients with and without mitral intervention., Results: A total of 11,676 patients met inclusion criteria, including 1355 (11.6%) with moderate IMR and 390 (3.3%) with severe IMR. The proportion of patients undergoing mitral intervention for moderate IMR decreased over time (2011, 17.7%; 2020, 7.5%; P trend  = .001), whereas mitral replacement for severe IMR remained stable (2011, 11.1%; 2020, 13.3%; P trend  = .14). Major morbidity was higher for patients with moderate IMR who underwent mitral intervention (29.1% vs 19.9%; P = .005). In a propensity analysis of 249 well-matched pairs, there was no difference in major morbidity (29.3% with mitral intervention vs 23.7% without; P = .16) or operative mortality (1.2% vs 2.4%; P = .5)., Conclusions: Consistent with recent guideline updates, patients with moderate IMR were less likely to undergo mitral repair. However, the rate of replacement for severe IMR did not change. Mitral intervention during CABG did not increase operative mortality or morbidity., (Copyright © 2023 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Collected sediment samples from the cage fish farm were measured to determine carbon and nitrogen stable isotope compositions and to understand the influence of the aquaculture waste on the sediment. The average δ 13 C of the sediment organic matter was -27.2 ‰ and -26.5 ‰, and the average δ 15 N value was 5.6 ‰ and 6.2 ‰ in October 2017 and November 2018, respectively. A linear mixing model was used to calculate the contribution ratios of the aquaculture waste in sediment organic matter. The contribution ratio of fish feces was 53.9 % and 25.5 %, and the contribution ratio of waste feed was 18.4 % and 52.6 % in October 2017 and November 2018, respectively. The sediment in the "cage fish area" was characterized by high waste feed ratio in sediment organic matter. The sediment organic matter was affected by the aquaculture waste even at sites 1500 m away from the cage fish farm., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of in vitro simulated saliva-gastrointestinal digestion and fecal fermentation behavior on the chemical composition, structure and bioactivity of polysaccharides from Clitocybe squamulosa (CSFP). Results showed that gastric digestion significantly changed the chemical composition and structural properties of CSFP, such as total uronic acid, reducing sugar, molecular weight, rheological properties, particle size, and microscopic morphology. In particular, the molecular weight decreased from 19,480 Da to 10,945 Da, while the reducing-sugar content increased from 0.149 mg/mL to 0.293 mg/mL. Gastric digestion also affected the biological activity of CSFP. Although after gastric digestion, CSFP retained its vigorous antioxidant activity, ability to inhibit α-amylase activity, and the binding ability to bile acid, fat, and free cholesterol in vitro. However, there was an apparent weakening trend. After in vitro fermentation of gut microbiota, the content of total sugar was significantly decreased from 11.6 mg/mL to 2.4 mg/mL, and the pH value in the fecal culture significantly decreased to 5.20, indicating that CSFP could be broken down and utilized by gut microbiota. Compared to the blank, the concentrations of total short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) including acetic, propionic and n-butyric significantly increased. Simultaneously, CSFP could remarkably reduce the proportions of Firmicutes and Bacteroides (F/B) and promote the growth of some beneficial intestinal microbiota. Therefore, CSFP can potentially be a new functional food as prebiotics to promote human gut health., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

WDR62 (WD40-repeat protein 62) participates in diverse biological process, especially mitotic spindle organization via regulating centriole biogenesis and the function of centriole-associated protein. However, the role of WDR62 exerts in spindle assembly and meiotic progression control in oocytes lacking typical centrosomes remains obscure. In a previous study, we reported that WDR62 is involved in spindle migration and asymmetric cytokinesis in mouse oocyte meiosis. In the current study, another novel function of WDR62 regulating cell cycle progression through meiotic spindle formation during oocyte meiotic maturation was found. Knockdown of WDR62 through siRNA microinjection disrupted the meiotic cell cycle and induced metaphase-I (MI) arrest coupled with severe spindle abnormality, chromosome misalignment, and aneuploid generation. Moreover, WDR62 depletion induced defective kinetochore-microtubule attachments (K-MT) and activated spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which could trigger the arrest of meiotic progression. Further study demonstrated that depletion of WDR62 was associated with an aberrant location of p-JNK and reduced its expression level; concomitantly, status of H3K9 trimethylation was also altered. In addition, phenotypes similar to WDR62 depletion were observed during the function-loss analysis of p-JNK using a specific inhibitor (SP600125), which signifies that WDR62 is important for spindle organization and meiotic progression, and this function might be via its regulation of p-JNK. In conclusion, this study revealed that WDR62 functions in multiple ways during oocyte meiotic maturation, which could be related to p-JNK and H3K9 trimethylation., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore male nurses' experiences of workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment in South Korea., Methods: Phenomenological qualitative methodology exploring male nurses' experiences was employed to collect data, and thematic analysis of the data was conducted. Research subjects were recruited by convenience and snowball sampling. Ten male nurses participated in individual in-depth interviews via mobile phone. Data were collected from June 15 to July 24, 2020., Findings: Two themes were extracted that described male nurses' experiences of workplace gender discrimination and sexual harassment. In the first theme, "facing gender discrimination from various dimensions," nurses' thoughts and feelings regarding gender discrimination from various sources were expressed. The second theme, "experiencing sexual harassment at work as a man," presented experiences of sexual harassment as a male nurse and difficulties in being recognized as a victim., Conclusion: Gender discrimination and sexual harassment experienced by male nurses stem from a wide range of socio-cultural factors, ranging from individuals to organizations, and institutions. Therefore, this problem requires a correspondingly broad approach for improvement, such as making efforts to avoid classifying certain roles according to gender, developing new standards considering the specific experiences of men as victims of sexual discrimination and sexual harassment, and continuing training to increase social sensitivity and interest in the harm suffered by minorities in society., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: The evidence base favoring utilization of multiple arterial conduits in coronary artery bypass grafting has strengthened in recent years. Nevertheless, utilization of arterial conduits in the US lags behind that of many European peers. We describe a statewide collaborative based approach to improving utilization., Methods: Four metrics of arterial revascularization were devised. These were displayed and discussed at quarterly statewide quality collaborative meetings from January 2016 onwards, integrated with an educational program regarding attendant benefits. We undertook retrospective review of isolated coronary artery bypass grafting statewide from 2012-2019 to assess impact., Results: A total of 38,523 cases met inclusion/exclusion criteria. Statewide incidence of multiple arterial grafting increased from 7.4% at baseline to 21.7% in 2019 (P < .001), implementation across hospitals varied widely, ranging from 67.6% to 0.0%. Utilization of total arterial revascularization increased 1.9% to 4.4% (P < .001) between time frames. Utilization of both radial artery and bilateral internal thoracic artery conduit increased significantly from 5.3% to 13.2% (P < .001) and 2.1% to 8.5% (P < .001), respectively; radial artery utilization was significantly higher than bilateral internal thoracic artery for each year (P < .001 for all comparisons)., Conclusions: Our statewide quality improvement initiative improved rates of utilization of multiple arterial grafting by all metrics. Barriers to current utilization were identified to guide future quality improvement efforts. This reproducible approach is readily transferable to improve quality of care in other domains and geographical areas., (Copyright © 2021 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

High pathologic tumor-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage grade or Fuhrman grade indicates poor oncological outcome in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Early diagnosis and screening of these RCCs and adjust surgical planning accordingly are greatly beneficial to patients. Raman spectroscopy is a highly specific fingerprint spectrum on molecular level, pretty appropriate for label-free and noninvasive cancer diagnosis. In this work we established a Raman spectrum-based supporting vector machine (SVM) model to accurately ex vivo distinguish human renal tumor from normal tissues and fat with an accuracy of 92.89%. The model can also be used to determine tumor boundary, showing consistent results to pathological staining analysis. This method can be additionally used to accomplish the classification purposes of renal tumor subtypes and grades with an accuracy of 86.79% and 89.53%, respectively. Therefore, we prove that Raman spectroscopy has great potential in the rapid and accurate clinical diagnosis of renal cancers., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)