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Recent data suggest that organic broilers often score worse on footpad lesions than conventional broilers but also that the current scoring of organic broiler feet may be misleading. In order to characterise footpad lesions in organic broilers, this study assessed and compared footpad lesions in a sample of 2987 conventional and 3578 organic broiler feet obtained from a large Danish abattoir during summer and winter. The feet were scored according to two scoring systems: the modified Danish surveillance scoring system and a histopathology-based new scoring system specifically developed to target the ability to differentiate between broiler feet with hyperkeratosis and ulcers. For both systems, all broiler feet with visible lesions were cross-sectionally incised. Significant differences between the two production systems were found for both scoring systems (χ2 = 710; P < 0.001 and χ2 = 247; P < 0.001 for the new and the surveillance systems, respectively), showing that a larger proportion of the organic feet compared to conventional feet – summer and winter – exhibited signs of hyperkeratosis. In addition, a smaller fraction of the organic feet than of the conventional feet were given the outermost scores, that is, normal or ulcerated; 13.4% v. 25.3% broiler feet were given score 0 for organic v. conventional production systems, respectively (χ2 = 152; P < 0.001), and 18.4% v. 23.8% feet were given score 4 for organic v. conventional production systems, respectively (χ2 = 308; P < 0.001). Thus, the results suggest that surveillance scoring systems such as the one used in Denmark are useful for the examination of footpad lesions in broilers from both types of production systems. However, the results have also raised attention to a typical characteristic of the feet of organic broilers, that is, profound hyperkeratosis, which may underlie potential misclassifications in surveillance scoring systems like the one used in Denmark. Among the possible solutions to this challenge to the correctness and fairness of the scoring system are improved procedures (such as mandatory incision), training of technicians and calibration of results (especially for the organic footpads).

As informed decision making has become one of the key attributes in the modern economy which is driven by sustainable production and consumption, assessment of the present situation and providing future recommendations in the area of textile ecolabelling can be considered highly significant. Therefore, this review aimed at assessing the attributes of textile ecolabels that are currently applied around the world, identify current trends in textile ecolabelling, and propose recommendations for future research in the area. A comprehensive literature review on textile ecolabelling was performed by accessing the world’s largest ecolabelling database “Ecolabel Index” by reviewing 107 ecolabels that are currently applied in the textile industry. The present review highlights the importance of focusing on regional or ‘gate-to-gate’ ecolabelling frameworks for the textile industry, due to the outspread nature of the product manufacturing life cycle that covers a range of geographical regions.

The telecommunications service provider (TSP) strategy for collaborating with the industry that utilizes the Internet of Things (IoT) is an excellent opportunity to overcome digital disruption. TSP serves only human-type customers, thus constructing new business processes for the IoT, a non-human customer base, is a challenge to be addressed. Some large companies that are transforming business processes face difficulties in using the strategic framework for reasons such as ineffective management of organizational change, internal resistance, technical issues, and conflicts between frameworks and business needs. The enterprise architecture (EA) is a comprehensive strategic framework that involves company analysis, design, and solution implementation. This study examines transformation project implementation based on the EA model as a prototype, from business strategy to practice, using the concept of three intersections among project management, strategic management, and business processes. Thus, the aims of this study are to develop a method for implementing a telecommunications cross-industry collaboration project with an IoT-based company, and heuristic implementation of the method as a research initiative in producing an EA model as a project prototype. The development of the proposed methodology requires the dynamic systems development method (DSDM) as the agile foundation, including pre-project, feasibility, business study, functional model, design and build, and implement. The implementation phase proposes a transformation strategy that addresses company elements: 22 at business layer, 6 at application layer, 4 at technology layer, and 15 relationships, to be executed by the company in order to increase the company's competitive value.

Observations of communication service providers (CSPs) over the past five years have revealed that text services have reduced radically by around 75%, followed by voice services and the average revenue per user (ARPU). This condition signifies that telecommunications companies are being affected by digital disruption. A fundamental analysis of current business processes is thus necessary for future telecommunications success. In the area of corporate strategic management, studies on conversion of the Internet of Things (IoT)-based industry as a new customer are gaining popularity. This research analyzes the breakthrough operational activities through a customer-centric approach as well as end-to-end CSP business activities towards a new customer reconciliation model. The customer-centric activities address problem to solution and complaint to solution. In the future, CSPs are expected to have large numbers of newly registered customers from IoT-based industries. The strategic mechanism for transforming leaps from old business processes into new ones is a novel research subject using the business process management (BPM) method. Business process analysis has been facilitated by the Internationa Telecommunication Union (ITU) telecommunications standards body developed by TMForum as the global telecommunications industry association. This transformation involves development of organizational structure, business activities, technical specifications, information and communication flow, and operational schemes, modeled under the enterprise architecture strategic notation, whose result is a breakthrough enterprise architecture design for future telecommunications companies. The design contributes to strategic management knowledge on how collaboration between the telecommunications industry and other IoT-based industries is determined for real operations. This research presents a transformation scheme that can solve the potential problem of bankruptcy in the telecommunications industry through a case study of a smart city in the IoT-based industry.

Piglet mortality is a major problem in organic pig production affecting both farm economy and animal welfare. Knowledge is scarce on the risk factors of piglet mortality in Danish commercial organic pig production. The objectives of this study were to evaluate season, litter size, parity, sow body condition and stillborn littermates as risk factors for early piglet mortality and crushing of liveborn piglets from parturition until castration at day 3 to 5 postpartum (pp). The study was conducted over a 1-year period in nine commercial Danish organic pig herds practicing outdoor farrowing all year round. Data included recordings on 3393 farrowings with 50 284 liveborn piglets of which 14.8% died before castration. A subset of the dead piglets were collected and necropsied to identify crushed piglets. The average number of liveborn piglets per litter was 14.8 (SD=3.7) and the average time from parturition until castration was 4.1 (SD=1.7) days. A negative binomial regression analysis was used to model the effect of the predictive variables on the early piglet mortality accounting for different time periods from parturition to castration. An increase in maternal body condition score (BCS) and parity significantly increased the risk of dying between parturition and castration. Early mortality was found to be lowest during spring (March to May) and highest during summer (June to August). Being born into a litter with one or more stillborn littermates increased the risk of early mortality. The risk factors for crushing of piglets were evaluated using a logistic analysis. A significant effect of parity and litter size was found where the odds of at least one piglet in a litter with mortality was diagnosed as crushed increased with increasing parity and litter size. In conclusion, being born during summer (June to August), high parity and maternal BCS and stillborn littermates were found to be risk factors for piglet mortality between parturition and castration. In addition, parity and increasing litter size were found to be risk factors for crushing of piglets in litters with mortality.

In Danish organic pig production, one-third of total born piglets die before weaning, and stillbirth has previously crudely been estimated to account for 27% of the total preweaning mortality. The objective of this study was to evaluate season, litter size, parity and body condition of the sow as risk factors for stillbirth in nine commercial Danish organic pig herds. The study was conducted over a 1-year period, and the data included registrations on 5170 farrowings with 82 906 total born piglets. The average number of total born piglets per litter was 16.0, and the number of stillborn piglets per litter was 1.1. A significant effect of season was seen with an odds ratio for stillbirth of 1.15 during summer (May to August) compared with the remaining part of the year. A non-linear effect of litter size was seen where an increase in litter size from 11 to 16 resulted in an odds ratio of stillbirth of 1.11. An increase in litter size from 16 to 21 resulted in an odds ratio of stillbirth of 1.45. A significant interaction between body condition and parity was present. In first parity sows, an increase in body condition score from 2 (thin) to 3 (moderate) and from 3 to 4 (fat) increased the probability of stillbirth with an odds ratio of 1.23 and 1.36, respectively. In sows with parity above 4, an increase in body condition score from 2 to 3 and from 3 to 4 decreases the probability of stillbirth with an odds ratio of 0.68 and 0.79, respectively. In conclusion, increasing litter size and being born during the summer months of May to August were found to be risk factors for stillbirth. Furthermore, an interaction between body condition and parity showed that thin sows with parity above 4 had a substantially increased risk of stillbirth compared with normal and fat sows with parity above 4. In contrast, for parity 1 sows risk of stillbirth was increased in fat sows.

The term ''Internet of Things'' first appeared in publication paper since 2006, describing the paradigm of evolution concept that brought about by the presence of internet technology (Vermesan and Friess, 2015) which is very important in contemporary circumstances. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the research material written on 26420 papers which focused on the published Internet of Things (IoT) research, starting from the firstly year IoT keyword appeared in 2006 until 2018. The selected paper is a combination of various disciplines and publications which are all indexed by Scopus wherein the article discusses IoT. IoT articles are classified using key attributes in sequence: the methodology used, general knowledge and applied concepts, and various general exploration topics. By using the Scientometrics method, this method will group the overall terms that appear frequently from the Scopus paper database according to keywords, titles, and abstracts. The resulting data is then studied to understand and distinguish trends that occur in the time span along with the general characteristics of the paper, in the mathematics visual scheme. All various issues that are considered in the paper's methodology selection, their studied and services innovations, and continuing discoveries on the characteristics, concepts, and processes applied to IoT success. Although it only involves scopus indexed paper, this study found a remarkable increase in the number of articles on IoT in each category of the paper. This study also reveals the direction of the regular discipline of knowledge. The use of the Scientometrics method makes the analysis able to focus on the movement of characteristics and IoT themes to researcher's direction that has not found at this time, as a comprehensive guide to further research and industry strategy that is more directed on concepts that support the 4th industrial revolution.

Agricultural drought (AD) is the main environmental factor affecting vegetation productivity (VP) in the Yellow River Basin (YRB). In recent years, the nonlinear effects of AD on VP in the YRB have attracted much attention. However, it is still unclear whether fluctuating AD will have complex nonlinear effects on VP in the YRB, and there are scant previous studies at large scale on whether there is a threshold for nonlinear effects of AD on VP in the YRB. Therefore, this study used a newly developed agricultural drought index to explore nonlinear effects on VP revealing the nonlinear effects of AD on VP in the YRB. First, we developed a kernel temperature vegetation drought index (kTVDI) based on kernel normalized difference vegetation index (kNDVI) and land surface temperature data to study the spatiotemporal variation of AD in the YRB. Second, we used GPP data from solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence inversion as an indicator to explore the spatiotemporal variation of VP in the YRB. Finally, we used several statistical indicators and a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) to analyze the nonlinear effect of AD on VP in the YRB. The results showed that AD decreased significantly during 2000-2020, mainly in the southeast of the Loess Plateau, while GPP increased significantly in 80.93 % of the YRB. Meanwhile, moderate and severe AD stress limited VP growth, with the negative effects gradually decreasing, while mild AD had an increasingly positive promoting effect on VP. AD stress resulted in a VP decrease of 69.78 %, and severe AD stress resulted in a VP decrease of 65.52 %, mainly distributed in the northern Loess and Ordos Plateau. AD had significant nonlinear effects on VP. The effects of moderate and severe AD on the sustained nonlinear lag of vegetation were more obvious, and those of moderate and severe AD on the nonlinear lag of VP were the largest when the lag was approximately 1 month and 7 months. The effect of AD on the nonlinear hysteresis of VP in YRB was significantly different under different vegetation types, and forests were more able to withstand longer and more severe droughts than grasslands and croplands. The results of the study provide a theoretical basis for evaluating AD and analyzing the nonlinear impact of AD on VP. This will provide scientific basis for studying the mechanism of drought effect on vegetation in other regions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Methylene blue (MB) is a refractory organic pollutant that poses a potential threat to the aquatic environment. Fenton reaction is considered a primrose strategy to treat MB. However, the traditional Fenton process is plagued by narrow pH application range, poor stability, and secondary pollution. To solve these problems, many Fenton-like catalysts including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been prepared. Herein, a novel bimetallic MOF (Fe/Ce-BDC@CS) was prepared through simple adsorption for the effective removal of MB, where chitosan (CS) was used as the carrier. The degradation performance of Fe/Ce-BDC@CS (100 % within 20 min) was better than that of most reported monometallic MOFs. Moreover, Fe/Ce-BDC@CS exhibited good repeatability and its anti-interference performance of some inorganic ions was also remarkable. Column loading experiments showed that the removal efficiency of MB was still about 50 % over 155 h with a flowing speed of 0.30 L/h. Comparative analysis indicated that such excellent performances could be attributed to the synergistic effect between Fe and Ce. Furthermore, the results of quenching tests indicate that OH, O 2 - , and 1 O 2 contributed to MB degradation. In brief, Fe/Ce-BDC@CS has promising prospects in MB treatment, which can provide scientific references for the design and application of bimetallic MOFs., 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. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Traditional risk assessments of chiral pesticides mainly depend on racemic form, which is often incomprehensive. This study conducted systemic investigations on the bioactivity, toxicity, and ecotoxicological effects of hexythiazox (HTZ) at the enantiomer level. The elution order and absolute configuration of HTZ enantiomers were determined. (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ exhibited 708 and 1719 times higher bioactivity against Tetranychus cinnabarinus and Tetranychus urticae eggs than (4S, 5S)-(-)-HTZ, respectively. Molecular docking indicated greater interactions between (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ and chitin synthase leading to higher bioactivity of (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ. However, (4S, 5S)-(-)-HTZ induced greater changes in protein and malondialdehyde content, and antioxidant and detoxification enzyme activities than (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ in earthworms. Furthermore, integrated biomarker response results indicated (4S, 5S)-(-)-HTZ exhibited higher toxic effects on earthworms than (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ. Finally, significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed in earthworms after exposure to (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ and (4S, 5S)-(-)-HTZ, respectively. These DEGs were mainly enriched in glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and purine metabolism pathways in earthworms. Additionally, six metabolism pathways were also enriched, including pyruvate metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, citric acid cycle, fatty acid degradation, and ATP-binding cassette transporters. These findings suggest that earthworms exhibited enantiomer-specific responses to (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ and (4S, 5S)-(-)-HTZ. This study provides systemic insight into the toxicity mechanism of HTZ at the enantiomer level and the potential to develop (4R, 5R)-(+)-HTZ as a high-efficiency and low-risk pesticide., 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.)

Polyglycylation is a post-translational modification that generates glycine side chains in the C-terminal domains of both α- and β-tubulins. To date, the patterns and significance of polyglycylation across insect species remain largely unknown. The TTLL3B was thought to be a polyglycylase and be essential for polyglycylation in dipteran insects. In this study, the TTLL3B of Bactrocera dorsalis (BdTTLL3B) was identified and characterized. The BdTTLL3B expressed remarkably higher in adult males, especially in testes. The spatio-temporal patterns of polyglycylation were consistent with that of BdTTLL3B. Along with spermatogenesis, the intensity of polyglycylation was enhanced steadily and concentrated in elongated flagella. The expression of recombinant BdTTLL3B in Hela cells, which are genetically deficient in polyglycylation, catalyzed intracellular polyglycylation, validating the identity of BdTTLL3B as a polyglycylase. Knockout of BdTTLL3B significantly suppressed polyglycylation in testes and impaired male fertility, probably due to abnormal morphology of mitochondrial derivatives and over-accumulation of paracrystalline. Taken together, these findings indicated that the BdTTLL3B-mediated polyglycylation is involved in the spermatogenesis and play an important role in fertility of adult B. dorsalis. Therefore, the BdTTLL3B can be considered as a candidate target gene for the management of B. dorsalis, such as developing gene silencing/knockout-based sterile insect technology (SIT)., 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.)

Herein, we developed a doxorubicin (Dox)-loaded and 4T1 cancer cell membrane-modified hydrogenated manganese oxide nanoparticles (mHMnO-Dox) to elicit systemic antitumor immune responses. The results revealed that mHMnO-Dox actively recognized tumor cells and then effectively delivered Dox into the cells. Upon entering tumor cells, the mHMnO-Dox underwent rapid degradation and abundant release of Mn 2+ and chemotherapeutic drugs. The released Mn 2+ not only catalysed a Fenton-type reaction to produce excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) but also activated the cGAS-STING pathway to boost dendritic cell (DC) maturation. This process increased cytotoxic T lymphocyte infiltration as well as natural killer cell recruitment into the tumor site. In addition, the released Dox could contribute to a chemotherapeutic effect, while activating DC cells and subsequently intensifying immune responses through immunogenic cell death (ICD) of tumor cells. Consequently, the mHMnO-Dox suppressed the primary and distal tumor growth and inhibited tumor relapse and metastasis, as well as prolonged the lifespan of tumor-bearing mice. Thus, the mHMnO-Dox multimodally activated DC cells to demonstrate synergistic antitumor activity, which was mediated via the activation of the cGAS-STING signalling pathway to regulate tumor microenvironment, ICD-mediated immunotherapy and ROS-mediated CDT. These findings suggest the therapeutic potential of mHMnO-Dox in cancer immunotherapy. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: A cancer cell membrane-camouflaged hydrogenated mesoporous manganese oxide (mHMnO) has been developed as a cGAS-STING agonist and ICD inducer. The mHMnO effectively induced abundance of ROS production in cancer cells, which caused cancer cell death and then promoted DC maturation via tumour-associated antigen presentation. Meanwhile, the mHMnO significantly activated cGAS-STING pathway to facilitate DC maturation and cytotoxic T lymphocyte infiltration as well as natural killer cell recruitment, which further enhanced tumour immune response. In addition, the combination of the mHMnO and Dox could synergistically promote tumour ICD and then multimodally induce DC maturation, achieving an enhanced CIT. Overall, this study provides a potential strategy to design novel immunologic adjuvant for enhanced CIT., 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 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) are major national strategies in China. Agricultural drought (AD) is one of the most important stress factors of the ecological security of the YRB. Currently, there is a lack of exploration of the spatiotemporal evolution of AD in the YRB under different climatic zones and vegetation types, and the mechanisms by the driving factors influence AD remain unclear. The Temperature Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI) for the YRB in China during 2000-2020 was calculated using Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We analyzed the spatiotemporal evolution of AD from the perspective of upstream of the YRB (UYRB), midstream of the YRB (MYRB), and downstream of the YRB (DYRB), as well as different climate zones and vegetation types. The driving factors were selected based on the Pearson correlation analysis, Geographical detector, and Mantel test. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to quantify the direct and indirect effects of the driving factors on AD in the YRB. We found a slowing trend of AD in the YRB, mainly in the Loess Plateau, which is distributed in UYRB and MYRB, but an increasing trend for AD in DYRB. Temperature, which is the most direct influential factor, has exacerbated AD in UYRB and MYRB. However, surface solar radiation (SSR) has the greatest constraining effect on DYRB. AD increased in arid and desert zones, while a decreasing trend is observed for other climatic zones and vegetation types. In arid and semiarid zones, human activities and SSR were the largest indirect factors exacerbating AD. In humid and subhumid zones, the largest indirect factor exacerbating AD was potential evapotranspiration (PET). Temperature is the most direct factor exacerbating AD in cropland and forest, while PET is the largest indirect factor exacerbating AD in grassland. This study elucidates the driving factors and mechanisms of AD in the YRB to provide scientific decision support for mitigating regional drought and promoting regional sustainable development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Ferroptosis plays an important role in acute kidney injury (AKI), but the specific regulatory mechanism of ferroptosis in AKI remains unclear. This study is expected to analyze ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in AKI and explore their underlying mechanisms., Results: A total of 479 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 196 up-regulated genes and 283 down-regulated genes were identified in the AKI chip GSE30718. 341 FRGs were obtained from the Genecard, OMIM and NCBI database. Totally 11 ferroptosis-related DEGs in AKI were found, in which 7 genes (CD44, TIGAR, RB1, LCN2, JUN, ARNTL, ACSL4) were up-regulated and 4 genes (FZD7, EP300, FOXC1, DLST) were down-regulated. Three core genes (FZD7, JUN, EP300) were obtained by PPI and KEGG analysis, among which the function of FZD7 in AKI is unclear. The WGCNA analysis found that FZD7 belongs to a module that was negatively correlated with AKI. Further basic experiments confirmed that FZD7 is down-regulated in mouse model of ischemia-reperfusion-AKI and cellular model of hypoxia-reoxygenation(H/R). In addition, knockdown of FZD7 could further aggravate the down-regulation of cell viability induced by H/R and Erastin, while overexpression of FZD7 can rescue its down-regulation to some extent. Furthermore, we verified that knockdown of FZD7 decreased the expression of GPX4 and overexpression of FZD7 increased the expression of GPX4, suggesting that FZD7 may inhibit ferroptosis by regulating the expression of GPX4 and plays a vital role in the onset and development of AKI., Conclusions: This article revealed the anti-ferroptosis effect of FZD7 in acute kidney injury through bioinformatics analysis and experimental validation, suggesting that FZD7 is a promising target for AKI and provided more evidence about the vital role of ferroptosis in AKI., 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 Inc. All rights reserved.)

The climatic conditions in different regions of China are complex and diverse, and the characteristics of building energy consumption in different climatic regions are quite different, leading to significant differences in the historical peak situation of building carbon emissions (BCE). Based on the statistical Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test method, this study evaluates the historical peak situation of BCE in different climate regions in China and discusses the reasons for the differences in the growth trends and peak situations of BCE in these regions. Furthermore, according to the characteristics of building energy consumption in different climate regions, the challenges faced by each climate region in promoting the peaking of BCE are highlighted. The research results show that owing to the continuous increase in the proportion of electrification and clean energy power generation, the electricity emission factor and carbon emissions per unit of energy consumption continue to decline, and the growth rates of BCE in the transitional and southern regions are significantly lower than the growth rate of building energy consumption, and the carbon emissions per unit floor area in the southern region has reached its peak. The main obstacles to promoting the peaking of BCE in the northern heating region are the high‑carbon heating energy structure and the unrestrained heating behavior of residents, while the challenges faced by the transitional and southern regions are the southward migration of the population and economic centers of gravity and the gradual increase in residents' requirements for living environment comfort. Government decision-makers should formulate differentiated BCE peaking strategies according to the characteristics of building energy consumption in different climate regions., 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.)

After acute kidney injury (AKI), renal tubular epithelial cells (RTECs) are pathologically characterized by intracellular lipid droplet (LD) accumulation, which are involved in RTEC injury and kidney fibrosis. However, its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. The protein, αKlotho, primarily expressed in RTECs, is well known as an anti-aging hormone wielding versatile functions, and its membrane form predominantly acts as a co-receptor for fibroblast growth factor 23. Here, we discovered a connection between membrane αKlotho and intracellular LDs in RTECs. Fluorescent fatty acid (FA) pulse-chase assays showed that membrane αKlotho deficiency in RTECs, as seen in αKlotho homozygous mutated (kl/kl) mice or in mice with ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI)-induced AKI, inhibited FA mobilization from LDs by impairing adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL)-mediated lipolysis and lipophagy. This resulted in LD accumulation and FA underutilization. IRI-induced alterations were more striking in αKlotho deficiency. Mechanistically, membrane αKlotho deficiency promoted E3 ligase peroxin2 binding to ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 D2, resulting in ubiquitin-mediated degradation of ATGL which is a common molecular basis for lipolysis and lipophagy. Overexpression of αKlotho rescued FA mobilization by preventing ATGL ubiquitination, thereby lessening LD accumulation and fibrosis after AKI. This suggests that membrane αKlotho is indispensable for the maintenance of lipid homeostasis in RTECs. Thus, our study identified αKlotho as a critical regulator of lipid turnover and homeostasis in AKI, providing a viable strategy for preventing tubular injury and the AKI-to-chronic kidney disease transition., (Copyright © 2023 International Society of Nephrology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The polysaccharides from Sea buckthorn leaves (SBLPs) were extracted by hot water and purified by DEAE cellulose, then separated into six polysaccharides (SBLP-S) by DEAE-52 column. Six separated polysaccharides were characterized by Ultraviolet Spectroscopy, Infrared Spectrum, High Performance Liquid Chromatographic and Congo red analysis. The antioxidant activity and immunological activity were investigated in vitro. The results revealed that the monosaccharide composition of SBLP-S-1, SBLP-S-2, SBLP-S-3, SBLP-S-5 and SBLP-S-6 contained Man, GlcN, Rib, Rha, GluA, GalA, Glu, Gal, Xyl, Ara and Fuc, among them, rare glucosamine was found. And SBLP-S-4 contained all above components except GlcN and GluA. FT-IR showed that SBLP-S were sulfated polysaccharide containing uronic acid. Molecular weights of SBLP-S were 338.659, 401.305, 599.849, 393.904, 626.895 and 176.862 kDa. The Congo-red test indicated that SBLP-S-2, SBLP-S-4, SBLP-S-5, and SBLP-S-6 had triple helix conformation. Crude polysaccharides had the strong scavenging activities on DPPH radicals, ABTS radicals and hydroxyl radicals. The six polysaccharides had the activity of immune stimulation on RAW264.7 cell. SBLP-S-2 promoted the phagocytosis best and SBLP-S-6 promoted the NO production best. The results suggested that SBLPs could be used as potential antioxidants and immunomodulatory agents in pharmaceutical and functional food fields., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) mediates lipid exchange between organelles at membrane contact sites, thereby regulating lipid dynamics and homeostasis. How OSBP's lipid transfer function impacts health and disease remain to be elucidated. In this review, we first summarize the structural characteristics and lipid transport functions of OSBP, and then focus on recent progresses linking OSBP with fatty liver disease, diabetes, lysosome-related diseases, cancer and viral infections, with the aim of discovering novel therapeutic strategies for common human diseases., 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: Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion is a leading cause of age-related diseases worldwide. However, little is known about the association between indoor solid fuel use and sarcopenia, especially in developing countries., Methods: A total of 10,261 and 5129 participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study were enrolled in the cross-sectional and follow-up analysis, respectively. The effects of household solid fuel use (for cooking and heating) on sarcopenia were evaluated using generalized linear models in the cross-sectional analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression models in the longitudinal analysis., Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia in the total population, clean cooking fuel users, and solid cooking fuel users were 13.6 % (1396/10,261), 9.1 % (374/4114), and 16.6 % (1022/6147), respectively. A similar pattern was observed for heating fuel users, with a higher prevalence of sarcopenia among solid fuel users (15.5 %) than among clean fuel users (10.7 %). In the cross-sectional analysis, solid fuel use for cooking/heating, separately or simultaneously, was positively associated with an elevated risk of sarcopenia after adjusting for potential confounders. During the four-years follow-up period, 330 participants (6.4 %) with sarcopenia were identified. The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95 % confidence interval [95 % CI]) for solid cooking fuel users and solid heating fuel users was 1.86(95 % CI:1.43-2.41) and 1.32(95 % CI:1.05-1.66), respectively. Moreover, compared with persistent clean fuel users, participants who switched from clean to solid fuel for heating appeared to have an increased risk of sarcopenia (HR:1.58; 95 % CI:1.08-2.31)., Conclusions: Our findings show that household solid fuel use is a risk factor for sarcopenia development among middle-aged and older Chinese adults. The transition from solid to clean fuel use may help reduce the burden of sarcopenia in developing countries., 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.)

Riverine water and sediment discharge drive global material circulation and energy transfer, and they are crucial to the biogeochemical cycle. We investigated the changes in water-sediment fluxes in six major rivers from north to south in China from the mid-1950s to 2020 under the influence of climate change and human activities, and quantified the contributions of these specific influencing factors to water-sediment flux changes. Results showed that streamflow of the Songhua, Liao and Yellow rivers decreased significantly (p < 0.05). The sediment load of all rivers reduced significantly (p < 0.01) except the Songhua River. Streamflow or sediment fluxes to the oceans have increased or stabilized since around 2000, and the terrestrial sediment yielding center in China has shifted southward from the Yellow River to the Yangtze and Pearl rivers. The contribution of precipitation to the streamflow and sediment load changes decreased from north to south across the six rivers. From the mid-1950s to 2020, the underlying land surface change was the dominant contributor (>70 %) to reducing streamflow in the Songhua and Yellow rivers, while climate change (>50 %) was responsible for decreased streamflow in the Liao and Huai rivers. The sediment load reduction of the six rivers was attributed mainly to human activities. Among them, dam construction, human water consumption and catchment land surface change have reduced the total sediment load into the sea by 49 %, 25 % and 19 %, respectively. These results highlight that north-south variability in water and sediment flux are driven by both natural and anthropogenic forcing agents., 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.)

Aims: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) caused by multiple factors. Studies have shown that epithelial cell damage was associated with ferroptosis in UC. Therefore, our research focused on the effects and mechanism of iron chelator deferasirox in UC., Main Methods: The UC model was induced by 2.5 % dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) and administered with deferasirox (10 mg/kg) for 7 days. Histological pathologies, inflammatory response, ferrous iron contents, oxidative stress and ferroptosis regulators were determined. Intestinal microbiota alteration and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production were analyzed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing and targeted metabolomics., Key Findings: Deferasirox significantly relieved the DSS-induced UC in mice, as evidenced by weight loss, survival rate, colon length shortening disease activity index (DAI) score and histology score. Deferasirox treatment reduced the level of pro inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and INF-γ). Ferroptosis was induced in mice with UC, as evidenced by ferrous iron accumulation, increased ROS production, SOD and GSH depletion, decreased the expression of GPX-4 and FTH, accompanied by increased expression of TF. Deferasirox treatment strongly reversed the alterations caused by ferroptotic characteristics in DSS-induced mice. Moreover, deferasirox treatment reshaped the composition of intestinal microbiota. The results revealed the genera of norank&#95;f&#95;&#95;Muribaculaceae, Lachnospiraceae&#95;NK4A136&#95;group, Prevotellaceae&#95;UCG-001, Odoribacter and Blautia were increased distinctly, while Escherichia-Shigella and Streptococcus were significantly decreased by deferasirox treatment. Targeted metabolomics analysis indicated the SCFAs production enhanced in deferasirox-treated mice., Significance: Our results suggested that deferasirox could treat DSS-induced UC in mice by inhibiting ferroptosis and improving intestinal microbiota., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Inland waters have been increasingly viewed as hotspots for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions owing to their strong capability to intercept and mineralize carbon from the terrestrial environment. Although small waterbodies in humid subtropical climates have the potential to emit considerable amounts of GHG, their emission patterns have remained understudied. This study involved intensive measurements of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions from a small reservoir and its upstream and downstream reaches located in subtropical Hong Kong. Our results revealed that a variety of metabolic, hydrological, and hydrochemical processes play a critical role in regulating its CO 2 dynamics. The reservoir was an overall source of CO 2 to the atmosphere with an average areal flux of 24.6 mmol m -2 d -1 , and it occasionally functioned as a sink for atmospheric CO 2 under intense solar radiation when primary productivity was high. This flux is on the low side relative to that of global (sub)tropical reservoirs, which was likely attributable to the prolonged history of the reservoir (>150 years) and the occasional undersaturation of CO 2 in the water column. We also noticed pronounced differences in the underlying controls of CO 2 dynamics between the reservoir and its upstream and downstream reaches, emphasizing the importance of taking into account the distinct characteristics of both lentic and lotic waters when evaluating catchment-scale CO 2 fluxes., 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.)

In the present study, the effects of a purified fraction of polysaccharides from the fruits of Lycium barbarum L. (LBPs), named LBPs-4, on the dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in mice were evaluated. The results showed that LBPs-4 decreased disease activity index score, prevented colon shortening and reduced plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and prostaglandin E2) in mice with colitis. LBPs-4 could increase the relative abundances of Akkermansia and Bifidobacterium in gut microbiota, and it also mitigated the intestinal barrier damage by upregulating the level of tight junction protein ZO-1 and the number of goblet cells in colon. Moreover, the results of in vitro culture indicated that the growth of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CCX 19042 was promoted by LBPs-4, whereas the culture media of LBPs-4 by Bacteroides ovatus with or without addition of mucin could enhance the growth of Akkermansia muciniphila. Collectively, these results suggested that LBPs-4 should be potential prebiotics for the treatment of colitis., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Thrombosis and hemorrhage as two opposite pathologies are prevalent within the chronic kidney disease (CKD) population. Platelet homeostasis, which positions centrally in their pathogenesis, varies among the CKD population, while the underlying mechanism is poorly understood., Objective: To investigate the change character and mechanism of platelet homeostasis in CKD and its association with renal Klotho deficiency., Methods: The change character of platelet homeostasis and its association with renal Klotho deficiency were determined based on a cohort study as well as CKD mice and Klotho-deficient mice with CKD. The effects on thrombopoiesis and platelet lifespan were examined by flow cytometry and platelet transfer. The underlying mechanism was explored by proteomics, flow cytometry, western blot, and immunoprecipitation., Results: We show that platelet count declines both in patient and mouse models with advanced CKD (Adv-CKD) and is positively associated with circulating Klotho levels. Mechanistically, we identify that ubiquitin ligase UBE2O governs Bcl-xL ubiquitination and degradation in platelets, whereas Adv-CKD-induced oxidative stress in platelets stimulates p38MAPK to promote Bcl-xL phosphorylation, which facilitates UBE2O binding to Bcl-xL and subsequent Bcl-xL degradation. Consequently, platelet lifespan is shortened in Adv-CKD, culminating in platelet count decline. However, kidney-secreted soluble Klotho protein restricts oxidative stress in platelets, thereby preserving Bcl-xL expression and platelet lifespan., Conclusions: Our findings uncover the mechanism of platelet count decline in Adv-CKD and identify renal Klotho as a long-range regulator of platelet lifespan, which not only provide a molecular mechanism underlying CKD-associated thrombocytopenia and hemorrhage but also offer a promising therapy choice., (© 2022 International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.)

Follicular regulatory T cells (Tfrs), a specialized subset of regulatory T cells (Tregs), have a particular role in the control of follicular helper T cell-driven germinal center (GC) responses. Following differentiation signals similar to those received by follicular helper T cells (Tfhs), Tfrs gain expression of characteristic chemokine receptors and transcription factors, such as CXCR5 and Bcl-6, allowing them to migrate into the B-cell follicle and perform in situ suppression. Thus, together with Tfhs, Tfrs help maintaining an optimized GC-reaction. However, the mechanism underlying the Treg-to-Tfr transition remains obscure. Here, we established a highly reproducible protocol for investigating the differentiation of Tregs into Tfrs by constructing spleen-chimeric mice combined with retrovirus transduction. We demonstrated that using this strategy, over 4 folds of Tregs could differentiate into Tfrs in Bcl-6 overexpression group compared to control counterparts (Migr1), and Bcl-6 could efficiently promote Tfr differentiation during acute viral infection. Hence, this method provides us an easy access to investigate the factors that regulate the differentiation program that converts Tregs into Tfrs, which will enhance our understanding of the networks regulating GC-reaction and shed new light on the molecular basis of immune homeostasis., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The accumulation and physicochemical properties of starch affect the eating quality of taro corm. This study aims to investigate the accumulation, morphology, and physicochemical properties of starch from inner and outer tissues in the top, middle, and basal parts of taro corm. Structural and morphological observations showed that the inner tissues of the taro corm accumulated more starch, and the middle tissue had moderate amylose content and the largest granule diameter. Starch from different tissues exhibited A-type orthorhombic structure and similar nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum. The relative crystallinity of starch in the middle tissue was higher than that in the top and basal tissues. Compared with middle and basal tissues, starch from top tissue showed higher peak viscosity, pasting time, swelling power and solubility. Compared with the top and basal tissues, the middle tissue of taro corm exhibited higher index of eating quality including smell, texture, and total evaluation score. The results indicated that starches in various spatial parts of taro corm exhibit differences in accumulation, morphology, structure and physicochemical properties that lead to diverse eating qualities., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Dinotefuran is a widely used neonicotinoid pesticides in agriculture and it has certain ecological toxicity to aquatic organisms. Studies on the potential toxicological effects of dinotefuran on fish are limited. In the present study, 96 h acute toxicity test indicated that enantiomers of R-(-)-dinotefuran had a greater toxic effect than Rac-dinotefuran on zebrafish, and S-(+)-dinotefuran was the least. In chronic assay, R-(-)-dinotefuran exerted more effects on the development of zebrafish than S-(+)-dinotefuran, and dinotefuran also had enantioselective effect on oxidative stress. Significant changes were observed in the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, which demonstrated dinotefuran induced oxidative stress in zebrafish. Besides, through an ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole-TOF mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF-MS)-based metabolomics method was used to evaluate the enantioselectivity of dinotefuran enantiomers in zebrafish. The results indicated that R-(-)-dinotefuran caused greater disturbances of endogenous metabolites. Phenylalanine metabolic pathways, glycine, serine and threonine metabolic pathways are only involved in zebrafish exposed to R-(-)-dinotefuran; whereas phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis was only involved in zebrafish exposed to S-(+)-dinotefuran. This study provides a certain reference value for assessing the environmental risks of dinotefuran enantiomers to aquatic organisms, and has practical significance for guiding the ecologically and environmentally safety use of dinotefuran., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Riverine transport of carbon from the land to the oceans plays a significant role in global carbon cycle. However, multiple processes can affect aquatic carbon cycling, and the carbon sources and processing in river systems are still elusive. Here, we analysed the water chemistry and dual carbon isotopes (δ 13 C and Δ 14 C) of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) from mixed karst and non-karst subtropical monsoonal catchments, southwest China. The water chemistry of the river water showed that DIC concentrations were mainly controlled by carbonate weathering and modulated by agricultural activities and geomorphic characteristics (i.e. elevation and slope), but the stable isotope of DIC (δ 13 C DIC ) was highly affected by CO 2 outgassing and in-stream photosynthesis. The C/N ratios and stable isotope of POC (δ 13 C POC ) indicated that the composition of riverine POC derived from a mixture of terrestrial sources and algae/microbial sources. Based on the δ 13 C and Δ 14 C of POC, we used a Bayesian mixing model to constrain the POC sources, which showed that aquatic photosynthesis was the main source for POC. Our findings suggest that carbon dynamics in subtropical rivers are highly affected by aquatic photosynthesis, which has significant implications on carbon cycling within river systems., 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.)

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for wheat growth and has a critical influence on yield and quality. This study aims to examine how medium nitrogen level (240 kg/hm 2 ) affects the starch granule development, starch accumulation, and structural characteristics of wheat starch. The results showed that nitrogen treatment could reduce the biosynthesis of starch and amylose, delay the degradation of starch in pericarp, and promote the proportion of B-type small starch granule in endosperm compared with those in the N0. In addition, the composition and distribution of starch granules were changed, the crystal structure in the inner lamellae and ordered structure in the external region of starch granules were affected, and the swelling power and solubility of starch during wheat development were increased. The effect of nitrogen treatment on the mRNA expression of enzymes related to starch biosynthesis or degradation varied in different developmental stages. During middle and later grain filling stages, AGPase, GBSSI, and GBSSII were lower, and SSS, SBE, and DBE were higher in N240 than in N0. This study indicated that nitrogen application at booting stage significantly affected the structural characteristics of starch, and ultimately determines its quality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region in China has been frequently suffering from severe haze events (observed daily mean surface fine particulate matter PM 2.5 concentrations larger than 150 μg m -3 ) partially caused by certain types of large-scale synoptic patterns. Black carbon (BC), as an important PM 2.5 component and a primarily emitted species, is a good tracer for investigating sources and formation mechanisms leading to severe haze pollutions. We apply GEOS-Chem model and its adjoint to quantify the source contributions to BC concentrations at the surface and at the top of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) during typical types of severe haze events for April 2013-2017 in BTH. Four types of severe haze events, mainly occurred in December-January-February (DJF, 62.3%) and in September-October-November (SON, 26.3%), are classified based on the associated synoptic weather patterns using principal component analysis. Model results reasonably capture the daily variations of BC measurements at three ground sites in BTH. The adjoint method attributes BC concentrations to emissions from different source sectors and from local versus regional transport at the model spatial and temporal resolutions. By source sectors, the adjoint method attributes the daily BC concentrations during typical severe haze events (in winter heating season) in Beijing largely to residential emissions (48.1-62.0%), followed by transportation (16.8-25.9%) and industry (19.1-29.5%) sectors. In terms of regionally aggregated source influences, local emissions in Beijing (59.6-79.5%) predominate the daily surface BC concentrations, while contributions of emissions from Beijing, Hebei, and outside BTH regions are comparable to the daily BC concentrations at the top of PBL (~200-400 m). Our adjoint analyses would provide a scientific support for joint regional and targeted control policies on effectively mitigating the particulate pollutions when the dominant synoptic weather patterns are predicted., 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 © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Ipriflavone (IP) is one of the over-the-counter drugs and found in foods, which is available for prevention of osteoporosis (OP) since 1989 in over 22 countries. Although some clinical trials have suggested that IP is appropriate for treatment of OP, there continues to be controversy regarding the efficacy and safety due to some contradictory reports. With the wide usage of IP for osteoporotic women, there is a critical need for evaluation of the evidence for IP in clinical practice., Methods and Materials: We searched randomized control trials (RCTs) in PubMed, CENTRAL and CNKI which used the regimen of IP in postmenopausal women with osteopenia or OP. The efficacy referred to the absolute change and relative change in bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover markers. The safety profiles were associated with adverse events and the number of subject withdrawals due to adverse reactions., Results: Eleven RCTs (n = 1605) met the eligibility criteria were included. The increase of the BMD in lumbar spine of the IP group is greater than that of the placebo group (random effect model: SMD = 0.36; 95%CI= (0.09, 0.62)). For safety profile, most frequent reactions are gastrointestinal symptoms, but withdrawals due to adverse reactions are similar in both the IP group and placebo control at the same time intervals., Conclusions: IP significantly increases BMD and has inhibitory effect on bone resorption markers in postmenopausal women with osteopenia or OP. Gastrointestinal symptoms may occur, but adverse drug withdrawal events were not statistically increased when compared with placebo group., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Purpose: This retrospective study aims to illustrate the radiographic characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and the correlation with the clinical course., Methods: 195 hospitalized patients confirmed as Coronavirus Disease 2019 at First Hospital of Changsha, Hunan Province from December 31, 2019 to February 20, 2020 were enrolled. Chest computed tomography scan, clinical data and laboratory tests results were collected accordingly. Variable characteristics were recorded, radiographic evolution and outcome were analyzed along with the time course. Representative laboratory tests results were analyzed based on the image findings., Results: Majority of the patients showed bilateral (73.8%), multiple lobes involvements (75.9%), peripheral distribution (83.1%), ground-glass opacification (41.0%), increased vascular margins (63.1%), long axis parallelism (55.9%), patchy ground-glass opacities beneath the pleura (51.3%) and consolidation (45.6%). According to the repeated radiology analysis, patients of improving/stable group tended to have younger age compared with worsening group (45.3 ± 15.0 VS. 59.3 ± 13.5, P = 0.001). Based on the laboratory test results, patients with positive image findings shared elder age, 46.0 (35.0-60.0)VS.31.0 (12.0-37.0) P < 0.001, and higher chance developing fever(P < 0.05); higher level of lymphocytes, C-reactive protein, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and lactate dehydrogenase; lower level of white blood cells, neutrophil and albumin(P < 0.001)., Conclusions: There are several specific image changes along with the disease progression may be helpful in early recognition and differential diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019. Comprehensive assessments of both imaging feature and laboratory test results may offer an intact knowledge of Coronavirus Disease 2019., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Many studies have shown that pollen and its preparation are ideal herbal remedies for the treatment of prostate diseases. Our previous study found that pollen polysaccharides from Chinese wolfberry (WPPs) can induce the apoptosis of prostate cancer DU145 cells. But the antitumor mechanism of WPPs was not clearly understood. Therefore, in the present study, we further investigated the antitumor mechanism of WPPs in DU145 cells and a xenograft mice model. The results showed that WPPs decreased the levels of PI3K, AKT, p-AKT and Bcl-2 proteins, and increased expression of Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9 in DU145 cells (P < 0.05). The in vivo data demonstrated that WPPs resulted in a significant dose-dependent increase (P < 0.05) in the number of apoptotic cells in tumor tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the activated PI3K, AKT, p-AKT and Bcl-2 levels were decreased and the level of caspase-3 was increased in DU145 xenografts mice model. Therefore, the antitumor mechanism of WPPs on DU145 cells may involve regulation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, which eventually promotes apoptosis. This study provided the experimental basis for further studied of WPPs as a possible functional food or adjuvant agent for prevention or treatment of prostate cancer., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The hyperthermophilic euryarchaeon Thermococcus barophilus Ch5 encodes two uracil DNA glycosylases (UDGs): Tba UDG247 and Tba UDG194. Herein, we characterized biochemically Tba UDG194. Compared with Tba UDG247, Tba UDG194 exhibits different biochemical characteristics. At >85 °C, >90 cleavage percentage was observed, suggesting that Tba UDG194 can remove uracil from DNA at physiological temperature of its host. Thus, the enzyme is the most thermophilic glycosylase among all the reported UDGs. Furthermore, the optimal pH of the enzyme activity was estimated to be 10, which is higher than that of Tba UDG247. Similar to Tba UDG247, Tba UDG194 activity is independent on a divalent metal ion. Mn 2+ , Zn 2+ and Cu 2+ display inhibitory effect on the enzyme activity at varied degreed whereas Mg 2+ and Ca 2+ have no detectable effect on the enzyme activity. In addition, Tba UDG194 is a salt-tolerant enzyme that retains compromised activity at 600 mM NaCl. Furthermore, Tba UDG 194 displays the following substrate preference: U ≈ U/G > U/T > U/A > U/C. The Arrhenius activation energy was estimated to be 20.1 ± 3.4 kcal/mol, theoretically representing the energy barrier for uracil removal from DNA by Tba UDG194. Overall, our observations suggest that Tba UDG194 might be involved in removal of uracil in DNA in Thermococcus cells., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Brain ageing is thought to be related to geriatric depression, but the relationship between ageing and depression among middle aged individuals is unknown. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the age-related reduction of brain cortical thickness (CT) can be found in adult first-episode MDD patients, as well as to identify the possible genetic effect of the ANK3 gene polymorphism age-relates CT reduction. This study recruited 153 first-episode MDD patients with a disease duration < 2 years and 276 healthy controls (HC), and the CT of 68 whole brain regions and two ANK3 SNPs (rs1994336 and rs10994359) were analyzed. The results showed that although the CT of both groups was negative correlated with age, the MDD group had significant greater age-related decrease in CT than the HC group (-9.35 × 10 -3 mm/year for MDD vs. -1.23 × 10 -3 mm/year for HC in the left lateral orbitofrontal lobe). The multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) results yielded significant interactions of diagnosis × age, genotype × age and diagnosis × genotype interaction for rs10994359. In HC, the C allele showed a protective effect on age-related CT reduction. The reduction in CT with age was several times as greater in non-C carriers as in C carriers (-3.54 × 10 -3 vs.-0.15 × 10 -3 mm/year in left supramarginal gyrus) for HC. However, this protective effect disappeared in patients with MDD. We did not find a clear effect of rs1994336 on the age-related CT reduction. The findings indicate that the widespread accelerated brain ageing occurs early in adult-onset depression and this ageing may be a pathological mechanisms of depression rather than an outcome of the disease. The ANK3 rs10994359 polymorphism may partially affect regional cortical ageing in MDD., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Backgroud: CCN3 is a novel adipokine and has emerged as a potential metabolic regulator. However, information regarding the role of CCN3 in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) remains unclear. This study measured for the first time serum CCN3 levels in T2DM and explored the correlations between its serum levels and various metabolic parameters in humans., Methods: A total of 219 newly diagnosed T2DM (nT2DM) patients and 205 healthy control subjects, matched for age and sex ratio, were enrolled. Circulating CCN3 and TNF-α, IL-6 and MCP-1 were measured by ELISA. The anthropometric assessment and biochemical evaluation were done in all subjects. OGTT were performed in 34 healthy individuals to investigate the association of CCN3 with glucose., Results: Serum CCN3 levels were significantly higher in nT2DM patients compared to those of the healthy controls (6.71[4.88, 8.56] vs. 4.51[3.55, 5.99] ng/ml, P < 0.01). Serum CCN3 positively correlated with BMI, WC, FAT%, TG, FPG, 2 h-PG, HbA1c, FIns, HOMA-IR, hs-CRP and TNF-α, IL-6 and MCP-1, but negatively with HOMA-β in all individuals (P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that BMI, HOMA-IR, TNF-α and MCP-1 were independently associated with CCN3. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that CCN3 was correlated with nT2DM. Finally, area under ROC curve of CCN3 (gender and age adjusted) for predicting the presence of nT2DM was 0.725(95% CI: 0.676-0.773). After an oral glucose challenge, there was no obvious change in the circulating levels of CCN3 as compared to 0 min (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: Elevation of CCN3 in nT2DM supports the hypothesis that CCN3 may serve as a risk factor associated with the pathogenesis of T2DM., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In recent years, silver nanoparticles have widely been used in antibacterial dressings to solve antibiotic resistance problems. However, traditional methods for reducing silver nanoparticles are usually toxic. To overcome this problem, Sanghuangporus sanghuang polysaccharides (FSHPs) were used as a green reducing agent to prepare silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with a size of 3-35 nm. The FSHPs‑silver nanoparticles (FSHPs-Ag) composite with chitosan solution were then freeze-dried to obtain a porous sponge dressing of chitosan-FSHPs-Ag (CS-FSHPs-Ag). The internal pores of CS-FSHPs-Ag were between 50 and 100 μm and had good swelling and water retention properties, which could provide a moist environment for wounds. Based on the experimental results, the appropriate concentration of AgNPs required for CS-FSHPs-Ag to inhibit Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was determined. Moreover, there was no statistically significant difference between the material treatment and the blank control group, indicating that the material almost showed no toxicity to L929 cells. Finally, this material was used for dressing animal wounds. The results showed that the CS-FSHPs-Ag promoted wound contraction and internal tissue growth better than the wounds treated with Aquacel® Ag, which indicated that the CS-FSHPs-Ag has a great potential as an ideal wound dressing material., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: staphylococcal enterotoxin plays an important role in patients with glucocorticoid (GC)-resistant atopic dermatitis (AD), but the exact mechanism is not fully understood., Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying the ability of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) to induce steroid insensitivity through impaired nuclear translocation of GRα in keratinocytes., Methods: The steroid-resistant AD induced by SEB was assessed by analyzing dermatitis score, dermal thickness, scratching behavior, infiltrating cells/HPF, levels of SEB-specific IgE and IgG2a antibody. In addition, dexamethasone (DEX)-induced GRα nuclear translocation and keratinocyte-derived cytokines and chemokines were analyzed in the lesional keratinocytes of AD and in HaCaT cells. Furthermore, the expressions of immunophilins FKBP51, FKBP52 and HSP90 responsive to GC in HaCaT cells were determined in the presence of SEB., Results: SEB dose-dependently diminished the inhibitory effect of DEX on dermatitis score, dermal thickness, scratching behavior, infiltrating cells/HPF, keratinocyte-derived cytokines and chemokines such as RANTES, MCP-1, TSLP and GM-CSF. In vivo and in vitro data showed that in the presence of DEX, SEB dose-dependently caused a marked decrease of GRα nuclear translocation in lesional keratinocytes of AD and in HaCaT cells. Importantly, in the presence of DEX, SEB increased the expression of FKBP51 and the product of keratinocyte-derived cytokines and chemokines in HaCaT cells., Conclusion: These results demonstrate that GC insensitivity by SEB in keratinocytes of AD is associated with impaired nuclear translocation of the GRα. Increased DEX-induced FKBP51 by SEB may contribute to accumulation of the GRα in cytoplasm of keratinocytes., (Copyright © 2018 Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)