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Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is one of the most common malignancies. Lactate dehydrogenase family genes (LDHs) play a critical role in tumor metabolism, but their functions in HNSCC have not been investigated thoroughly. Thus, we aimed to explore the value of LDHs in HNSCC. The association between LDHs expression and mutations, methylation, copy number variations (CNVs), alternative splicing (AS) and competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) was investigated in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The expression level of LDHs in OSCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues was verified by qPCR. Algorithms, such as ssGSEA, ESTIMATE, xCell and TIDE were utilized to analyze the characteristics of immune infiltration. Pathway alternations were enriched by GO, GSEA and KEGG analysis. The Mantel test was employed to elucidate the correlation between metabolism and the tumor microenvironment (TME). Subsequently, MTT and colony formation assays were utilized to assess the impact of LDHB knockdown on cellular proliferation. Additionally, ATP and lactate assays were performed to examine metabolic alterations. Co-culture experiments further investigated the effect of LDHB knockdown on T cell differentiation. LDHs were completely analyzed in multiple databases, among which LDHB was differentially expressed in HNSCC and significantly associated with prognosis. Low LDHB expression had better clinicopathological characteristics. Downregulated LDHB expression was associated with enhanced immune cell infiltration and could influence tumor metabolism. Despite having worse cytotoxic T lymphocyte dysfunction, the LDHBlow group was predicted to respond more favorably to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) therapy. Moreover, the correlation between metabolism and TME was depicted. In vitro, LDHB knockdown resulted in inhibited cell proliferation, increased lactate levels and decreased ATP levels, while promoted the Th1 differentiation of T cells. Our study provided a comprehensive analysis of the LDHs and illustrated low LDHB expression could inhibit tumor cell proliferation and ATP production by influencing metabolism, with improved immune cell infiltration and better response to immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • GML rescues DSS-induced inflammatory responses in Caco-2 cell monolayers. • GML provides protection against DSS-induced colitis in mice. • GML alters the gut microbial composition in DSS-induced colitis mice. • Lactobacillus , Alistipes , and Bacteroides are the key bacteria for the protective effect of GML. Glycerol monolaurate (GML) is a common food additive known for its antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. This study aims to assess the impact of GML on experimental colitis, both in vivo and in vitro. The results indicated that GML significantly inhibited the expression of MIP-3α, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, while upregulating the expression of claudin-3 and claudin-4 in DSS-treated Caco-2 cell monolayers. Oral administration of GML effectively alleviated colitis in mice, as demonstrated by mitigating body weight loss, lowering the DAI score, and improving colon shrinkage. GML significantly suppressed the expression of NF-κB p65, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-18 in DSS-treated mice. Moreover, GML increased the cecal microbial alpha-diversity index and restored the dysbiosis. GML significantly increased the relative abundance of Lactobacillus , Alistipes , and Bacteroides , which were found to be negatively correlated with the DAI score and pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. In conclusion, the results highlight the potential therapeutic benefits of GML in preventing colitis and emphasize the role of gut microbiota in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of light comfort on user health and productivity is profound, and brain activity serves as a sensitive indicator of how light environments influence individuals. This study establishes the correlation between light comfort and brain activity by utilizing time-frequency domain features and nonlinear dynamic features extracted from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals during reading. The experiment was conducted at three illuminance levels (200 lx, 500 lx, and 1000 lx) and involved collecting EEG signals and subjective evaluations from 28 young college students. Analysis of key EEG features under varied illuminances included average power, power distribution across different brain regions and frequency bands, fuzzy entropy, and avalanche parameters. The results demonstrate that at 500 lx, significant activation occurred in oscillatory activity within the prefrontal lobe and the β band. This illuminance level was identified as the most comfortable, with the lowest power observed at 2.34 μv2. Additionally, the avalanche criticality index was lowest (1.68) at 500 lx, indicating a stable and healthy brain state. Light comfort was significantly correlated with the relative power of δ and θ in parietal lobe and β in occipital lobe. The multilayer perceptron (MLP) model, trained on EEG features, achieves an 83.3% accuracy in predicting light comfort, with a notable 12.7% improvement when using only the 10 significantly correlated features compared to the full set. This study provides a method for using EEG signals to predict user light comfort under different illuminances and offers insights for the design of personalized indoor lighting environments. • Light significantly activated oscillatory activities in the frontal lobe and β. • At 500 lx, achieve light comfort with minimal brain power consumption (2.34 μv2). • The avalanche critical index is at its lowest (1.68) under light comfort. • RP θ/δ – parietal and RP β - occipital were strongly correlated with light comfort. • A new model for predicting light comfort was provided with an accuracy of 83.3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The top borer Scirpophaga excerptalis is a major pests of sugarcane in Guangxi, China. • Temperature has a critical impact on developmental rate of S. excerptalis. • Developmental rate of different stages of S. excerptalis was reduced by increasing of temperatures during experiments. • Temperature has a key role in reproduction and development of S. excerptalis. To determine the effects of temperature on the development and reproduction of top borer Scirpophaga excerptalis Walker (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), the durations of different developmental stages and reproductive capacity of S. excerptalis were measured at 20, 23, 26, 29 and 32℃. The results showed that the average durations of various developmental stages of S. excerptalis shortened with increasing temperatures from 20 to 32℃. The durations to complete one life cycle were 113.17 days at 20℃, and 39.50 days at 32℃. The developmental rate of each stage and generation was positively correlated with the temperature, which was consistent with the Logistic regression model. The temperature thresholds for egg, larval, pupal and preoviposition stages and the total cycle were 13.73, 14.73, 13.91, 13.66 and 14.10℃, respectively. The effective accumulative temperature was 112.62, 370.01, 188.17, 23.82 and 718.07 degree-days (DD), respectively. The adult longevity shortened with increasing temperatures, and the highest number of eggs laid per female was 204.74 eggs at 29℃. The survival rates of eggs, larvae and the whole generation were the highest at 26℃, which were 87.25%, 56.67% and 37.21%, respectively while the highest survival rate of the pupa was 76.69% at 29℃. There was no significant difference for the total cycle at 23-29℃. The results indicated that temperature was the key factor affecting the development and reproduction of S. excerptalis , and the optimum temperature for development and reproduction ranged from 23 to 29℃. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexanucleotide repeat expansions in the C9orf72 gene are the most common cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. Due to the lack of trunk neuromuscular organoids (NMOs) from ALS patients' induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), an organoid system was missing to model the trunk spinal neuromuscular neurodegeneration. With the C9orf72 ALS patient-derived iPSCs and isogenic controls, we used an NMO system containing trunk spinal cord neural and peripheral muscular tissues to show that the ALS NMOs could model peripheral defects in ALS, including contraction weakness, neural denervation, and loss of Schwann cells. The neurons and astrocytes in ALS NMOs manifested the RNA foci and dipeptide repeat proteins. Acute treatment with the unfolded protein response inhibitor GSK2606414 increased the glutamatergic muscular contraction 2-fold and reduced the dipeptide repeat protein aggregation and autophagy. This study provides an organoid system for spinal neuromuscular pathologies in ALS and its application for drug testing. [Display omitted] • C9-ALS NMOs displayed neuromuscular defects • C9-ALS NMOs displayed the C9orf72-associated pathological features • C9-ALS NMOs showed neurodegenerative features • GSK2606414 attenuated C9-ALS NMOs dysfunctions In brief, Gao et al. developed an amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) model using neuromuscular organoids (NMOs) derived from ALS patients' iPSCs. The NMOs generated from ALS patients' iPSCs exhibited spinal neural and peripheral muscular pathologies that are relevant to ALS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge on the trophic niche of animal species is important for understanding their coexistence and hence animal diversity. Trophic niches have been shown to vary with environmental conditions, but consequences of trophic niche shifts for food-web structure and functioning are little studied and this applies in particular for belowground communities. Here, using stable isotopes (15N, 13C), we investigated shifts in trophic niches of oribatid mites as model soil animal taxon along elevational gradients of two mountain ranges in Eurasia, the Alps in Austria and Changbai Mountain in China. The results showed pronounced differences in the use of basal resources (Δ13C values) and trophic positions (Δ15N values) between the two mountains due to the different parent rock with calcareous soils in the Alps and basalt bedrock on Changbai Mountain. Further, trophic positions changed with altitude, primarily related to changes in litter quality. Differences in trophic niches of oribatid mites between the two mountains were related to differences in functional traits such as body mass and reproductive mode. Generally, stable isotope values closely correlated with body mass underlining the importance of morphological characteristics as well as the parent rock for variations in trophic niches. Moreover, stable isotope values differed between parthenogenetic and sexual species, but this depended on mountain and parent rock, with higher trophic plasticity in parthenogenetic species on Changbai Mountain than in the Alps. Overall, our findings highlight the decisive role of parent rock in structuring montane soil food webs and provide novel insight into factors responsible for shifts in trophic niches in soil invertebrates. [Display omitted] • Trophic niches of Oribatida on Changbai Mountain and in the Alps were compared. • Δ13C and Δ15N values of Oribatida communities differed between the two mountains. • Oribatida trophic position changed with altitude at both mountains. • Oribatida trophic niche shifts were related to functional traits. • Parent rock likely affected Oribatida trophic niches at the two mountains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rare C 12 -norabietane diterpene racemate ( 1 ) and a new abietane diterpene alkaloid ( 2 ) were isolated from the roots of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. Their structures were established by comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, and 1 was successfully resolved by chiral HPLC, demonstrating that 1 is racemic. The absolute configurations of 1a [(+)-miltiorolide A], 1b [(−)-miltiorolide A], and 2 were determined using TDDFT-ECD calculations. 1a and 1b are the first examples of enantiomeric C 12 -norabietane diterpenes featuring an isobutylene with a tetrahydronaphthalene-butyrolactone ring system. The cytotoxic activities of the isolates ( 1 and 2 ) were evaluated against three human cancer cell lines BEL-7402, HT-29 and PANC-28. A plausible biogenetic pathway of 1 was also proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A summarization and analysis of the plant sources and the structure activity relationship of hypericin were reported for the first time. • The biological activities and the methods for extraction and isolation of hypericin in the past decades were updated. • The drug delivery systems of hypericin were comprehensively described. Background: Hypericin is a prominent secondary metabolite mainly existing in genus Hypericum. It has become a research focus for a quiet long time owing to its extensively pharmacological activities especially the anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and neuroprotective effects. This review concentrated on summarizing and analyzing the existing studies of hypericin in a comprehensive perspective. Methods: The literature with desired information about hypericin published after 2010 was gained from electronic databases including PubMed, SciFinder, Science Direct, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases and Wan Fang DATA. Results: According to extensive preclinical and clinical studies conducted on the hypericin, an organized and comprehensive summary of the natural and artificial sources, strategies for improving the bioactivities, pharmacological activities, drug combination of hypericin was presented to explore the future therapeutic potential of this active compound. Conclusions: Overall, this review offered a theoretical guidance for the follow-up research of hypericin. However, the pharmacological mechanisms, pharmacokinetics and structure activity relationship of hypericin should be further studied in future research. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual content has been an essential marketing approach to exerting enjoyable virtual experiences and inducing consumer engagement. However, despite the widespread acknowledgment of the importance of visual content, how would the exerted aesthetic perception affect consumer engagement is still unexplored. Adopting a deep convolutional neural network model, this study quantifies the aesthetics of thumbnail images and managerial photos of hotels and thereby explores the impact of hotel photo aesthetics on consumer engagement. Aesthetically enjoyable photos are shown effective not only to encourage more consumers to engage in word-of-mouth discussions but also to promote consumer ratings. Such impact is also significantly moderated by hotel price. This study illustrates a viable approach to probing the perceived aesthetics of visual content in the hospitality field, and the uncovered significant role of aesthetics highlights the necessity of further attention to the cognitive perceptions of visual marketing content in both theoretical research and practical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]