Search

Fertilization introduces parental genetic information into the zygote to guide embryogenesis. Parental contributions to postfertilization development have been discussed for decades, and the data available show that both parents contribute to the zygotic transcriptome, suggesting a paternal role in early embryogenesis1–6. However, because the specific paternal effects on postfertilization development and the molecular pathways underpinning these effects remain poorly understood, paternal contribution to early embryogenesis and plant development has not yet been adequately demonstrated7. Here our research shows that TREE1 and its homologue DAZ3 are expressed exclusively in Arabidopsis sperm. Despite presenting no evident defects in sperm development and fertilization, tree1 daz3 unexpectedly led to aberrant differentiation of the embryo root stem cell niche. This defect persisted in seedlings and disrupted root tip regeneration, comparable to congenital defects in animals. TREE1 and DAZ3 function by suppression of maternal RKD2 transcription, thus mitigating the detrimental maternal effects from RKD2 on root stem cell niche. Therefore, our findings illuminate how genetic deficiencies in sperm can exert enduring paternal effects on specific plant organ differentiation and how parental-of-origin genes interact to ensure normal embryogenesis. This work also provides a new concept of how gamete quality or genetic deficiency can affect specific plant organ formation.TREE1 and its homologue DAZ3 are expressed exclusively in Arabidopsis sperm, showing how genetic deficiencies can exert enduring paternal effects on specific plant organ differentiation and how parental-of-origin genes interact to ensure normal embryogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ginseng, from the roots of Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer, is a widely used herbal medicine in Asian countries, known for its excellent therapeutic properties. The growth of P. ginseng is depend on specific and strict environments, with a preference for wetness but intolerance for flooding. Under excessive soil moisture, some irregular rust-like substances are deposited on the root epidermis, causing ginseng rusty symptoms (GRS). This condition leads to a significant reduce in yield and quality, resulting in substantial economic loses. However, there is less knowledge on the cause of GRS and there are no effective treatments available for its treatment once it occurs. Unsuitable environments lead to the generation of large amounts of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We investigated the key indicators associated with the stress response during different physiological stages of GRS development. We observed a significant change in ROS level, MDA contents, antioxidant enzymes activities, and non-enzymatic antioxidants contents prior to the GRS. Through the analysis of soil features with an abundance of moisture, we further determined the source of ROS. The levels of nitrate reductase (NR) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activities in the inter-root soil of ginseng with GRS were significantly elevated compared to those of healthy ginseng. These enzymes boost nitric oxide (NO) levels, which in turn showed a favorable correlation with the GRS. The activities of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase first rose and then decreased as GRS developed. Excess soil moisture causes a decrease in oxygen levels. This activated NR and NOS in the soil, resulting in a production of excess NO. The NO then diffused into the ginseng root and triggered a burst of ROS through NADPH located on the cell membrane. Additionally, Fe2+ in soil was oxidized to red Fe3+, and finally led to GRS. This conclusion was also verified by the Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP), a precursor compound producing NO. The presence of NO from NR and NOS in water-saturated soil is responsible for the generation of ROS. Among these, NO is the main component that contribute to the occurrence of GRS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium plays a crucial role as a micronutrient, primarily exerting its biological functions through selenoproteins. It has been established that selenium deficiency adversely impacts cartilage development, leading to alterations in chondrocyte function. In regions with low selenium intake, endemic osteochondrosis has been documented, characterized by compromised growth plate and articular cartilage formation. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) stands out as a pivotal angiogenic factor, with elevated levels contributing significantly to vascular invasion into chondrocytes. This VEGF-mediated invasion serves as a key signal, prompting morphological changes in the growth plate and initiating cartilage remodeling. In animal models, the selenium deficiency group exhibited heightened levels of the cartilage damage marker matrix metalloproteinases 13 (MMP13). This resulted in articular cartilage degeneration, accompanied by a substantial increase in VEGF expression within the growth plate and articular cartilage, as compared to the normal group. In a chondrogenic progenitor cell (CPC) differentiation model, insufficient selenium induced chondrocyte damage and upregulated inflammatory factors such as inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2). The selenium-deficient groups showed elevated expressions of VEGF, VEGFR2, MMP13, Collagen X, and Angiopoietin 1, accelerating the degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM), which further promoted the development of cartilage-related diseases. Taken together, these findings provide novel insights for a better understanding of the role of low selenium in cartilage degeneration and angiogenesis. They shed light on the intricate influence of low selenium levels on the development of articular cartilage, emphasizing the interconnected pathways and processes involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biological structural materials, despite consisting of limited kinds of compounds, display multifunctionalities due to their complex hierarchical architectures. While some biomimetic strategies have been applied in artificial materials to enhance their mechanical stability, the simultaneous optimization of other functions along with the mechanical properties via biomimetic designs has not been thoroughly investigated. Herein, iron oxide/carbon nanotube (CNT)-based artificial nacre with both improved mechanical and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance is fabricated via the mineralization of Fe3O4 onto a CNT-incorporated matrix. The micro- and nano-structures of the artificial nacre are similar to those of natural nacre, which in turn improves its mechanical properties. The alternating electromagnetic wave-reflective CNT layers and the wave-absorptive iron oxide layers can improve the multiple reflections of the waves on the surfaces of the reflection layers, which then allows sufficient interactions between the waves and the absorption layers. Consequently, compared with the reflection-dependent EMI-shielding of the non-structured material, the artificial nacre exhibits strong absorption-dependent shielding behavior even with a very low content of wave-absorptive phase. Owing to the high mechanical stability, the shielding effectiveness of the artificial nacre that deeply cut by a blade is still maintained at approximately 70%–96% depending on the incident wave frequency. The present work provides a new way for designing structural materials with concurrently enhanced mechanical and functional properties, and a path to combine structural design and intrinsic properties of specific materials via a biomimetic strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although DHFR gene amplification has long been known as a major mechanism for methotrexate (MTX) resistance in cancer, the early changes and detailed development of the resistance are not yet fully understood. Methods: We performed genomic, transcriptional and proteomic analyses of human colon cancer cells with sequentially increasing levels of MTX-resistance. Results: The genomic amplification evolved in three phases (pre-amplification, homogenously staining region (HSR) and extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA)). We confirm that genomic amplification and increased expression of DHFR, with formation of HSRs and especially ecDNAs, is the major driver of resistance. However, DHFR did not play a detectable role in the early phase. In the late phase (ecDNA), increase in FAM151B protein level may also have an important role by decreasing sensitivity to MTX. In addition, although MSH3 and ZFYVE16 may be subject to different posttranscriptional regulations and therefore protein expressions are decreased in ecDNA stages compared to HSR stages, they still play important roles in MTX resistance. Conclusion: The study provides a detailed evolutionary trajectory of MTX-resistance and identifies new targets, especially ecDNAs, which could help to prevent drug resistance. It also presents a proof-of-principal approach which could be applied to other cancer drug resistance studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent and increasingly antagonistic relationship between the world's two great powers, the United States and China, has caused collateral damage to many secondary countries as their interests might rely on amicable relationships with both the US and China. Employing soft power as the theoretical framework, this study is one of the first empirical investigations of how the divergent US and Chinese anti-virus approaches (i.e., mitigation strategies vs. zero COVID policy) may influence people's policy preferences in secondary countries. A two-wave cross-national panel survey (n = 3,216) was conducted in four Asian societies: South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The results disclose an uneven game regarding the soft power competition between the US and China: Asian publics with greater confidence in the US anti-virus approach perceive domestic anti-virus measures as restrictive, and express less support for international trade; whereas, Asian publics trusting China's anti-virus approach express no specific preferences for domestic anti-virus measures, but more support for international trade and immigration. These findings illustrate differential responses from Asian publics to the US's and China's soft power practices in different policy arenas. This study contributes to the emerging literature linking COVID-19 to soft power, public diplomacy, and international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Through the sol-gel-oil ammonia column method, millimeter-sized spherical SiO2–Al2O3 particles were successfully prepared using aluminum isopropoxide and varying amounts of tetraethyl orthosilicate. The impact of different Al/Si molar ratios on the structure and performance of SiO2–Al2O3 materials was thoroughly investigated. The surface of the samples was analyzed for acidic sites (Brønsted and Lewis acids) both qualitatively and quantitatively. The millimeter-sized spherical SiO2–Al2O3 materials were used as a catalyst in the Solketal production process, involving acetalization of acetone and glycerol. The glycerin conversion rate reached 88.67% and the Solketal selectivity reached 93.28% when the SiO2–Al2O3 spherical particles reached with Al/Si molar ratio of 8. The spherical SiO2–Al2O3 exhibits high catalytic activity in the acetalization reaction due to its large specific surface area, thermal stability, and moderate Brønsted and Lewis acidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, cellulose was effectively separated from eucalyptus wood with ternary solvents containing organic base 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl guanidine and other organic solvents such as morpholine, N-ethyl morpholine, dimethyl formamide, glycerin, ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol. It was found that the combination of 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl guanidine with morpholine was favorable for achieving high delignification and less loss of cellulose. The removal of lignin and hemicellulose achieved 89.8% and 81.4% after heating for 6 h at 160 °C, respectively. It was found that the combination of 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl guanidine with morpholine was favorable for achieving high delignification and less loss of cellulose. The removal of lignin and hemicellulose achieved 89.8% and 81.4% after heating for 6 h at 160 °C, respectively. The addition of morpholine and water promoted the dissolution of lignin and reduced the degradation of cellulose. Subsequently, the crude cellulose was further purified through a simplified bleaching process, the final removal of lignin and hemicellulose increased to 98.7% and 97.5% respectively, and cellulose with a purity of 96.9% was achieved. The scanning electron microscopy analysis indicated that the diameter of cellulose bundles decreased from about 250 μm to about 20 μm after organic solvents treatment. The fiber bundle was completely separated into a single fiber with a diameter of about 5–10 μm after bleaching process. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed an increase in the crystallinity of fiber from 69.4% to 83.3%, implying a reduction of lignin and hemicellulose in eucalyptus. Fourier transform infrared spectra revealed the high selective removal of lignin and hemicellulose. Two-dimensional 1H-13C Heteronuclear singular quantum correlation was performed to investigated the structure units and linkages of lignin and found that only the structural signal of C5-H5 in guaiacyl (G5) alone existed in the aromatic region, while the signals -OCH3, Cγ–Hγ in β-O-4' (Aγ) and β-β' (Cγ) remained in the side chain region, indicating that lignin could be effectively degraded and dissolved by the ternary solvents. In conclusion, high purity cellulose was obtained from eucalyptus wood by environmentally friendly and recyclable processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The breather solutions for Lakshmanan-Porsezian-Daniel equation with fourth-order dispersion and fifth-order nonlinearity are studied in this paper. The breather solutions under plane wave background are solved by bilinear method and different evolution situations under different parameters are analyzed. Based on cascading instabilities analysis for the first several Fourier modes, the times at which the first breather occurs are predicted on about the same order of magnitude. By numerical simulations, multiple breathers recurrence after the first breather is formed in time can be observed, that is the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou recurrence phenomena appears. The effects of the higher-order coefficient and the plane wave background parameter on the propagation of the breather waves and the chaotic behavior of the Fourier mode are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autophagy modulates the degradation and recycling of intracellular materials and contributes to male gametophyte development and male fertility in plants. However, whether autophagy participates in seed development remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that autophagy is crucial for timely programmed cell death (PCD) in the integumentary tapetum, the counterpart of anther tapetum, influencing embryo pattern formation and seed viability. Inhibition of autophagy resulted in delayed PCD of the integumentary tapetum and defects in embryo patterning. Cell-type-specific restoration of autophagic activities revealed that the integumentary tapetum plays a non-autonomous role in embryo patterning. Furthermore, high-throughput, comprehensive lipidomic analyzes uncovered an unexpected seed-developmental-stage-dependent role of autophagy in seed lipid metabolism: it contributes to triacylglycerol degradation before fertilization and to triacylglycerol biosynthesis after fertilization. This study highlights the critical role of autophagy in regulating timely integumentary tapetum PCD and reveals its significance in seed lipid metabolism and viability. A seed consists of an embryo, endosperm, and seed coat. Here the authors show that autophagy plays a crucial role in regulating timely programmed cell death in the innermost seed coat, thereby influencing embryo pattern formation and seed viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disorder characterized by hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction, and polycystic ovarian morphology. Previous studies have suggested that metabolites may play a pivotal mediating role in the progression of phenotypic variations. Although several metabolites had been identified as potential markers for PCOS, the relationship between blood metabolites and PCOS was not comprehensively explored. Previously, Pickrell et al. designed a robust approach to infer evidence of a causal relationship between different phenotypes using independently putative causal SNPs. Our previous paper extended this approach to make it more suitable for cases where only a few independently putative causal SNPs were identified to be significantly associated with the phenotypes (i.e., metabolites). When the most significant SNPs in each independent locus (the independent lead SNPs) with p-values of < 1 × 10−5 were used, 3 metabolites (2-tetradecenoyl carnitine, threitol, 1-docosahexaenoylglycerophosphocholine) causally influencing PCOS and 2 metabolites (asparagine and phenyllactate) influenced by PCOS were identified, (relative likelihood r < 0.01). Under a less stringent threshold of r < 0.05, 7 metabolites (trans-4-hydroxyproline, glutaroyl carnitine, stachydrine, undecanoate, 7-Hoca, N-acetylalanine and 2-hydroxyisobutyrate) were identified. Taken together, this study can provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying PCOS; whether these metabolites can serve as biomarkers to predict PCOS in clinical practice warrants further investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has shown considerable promise for treating various malignancies, but only a subset of cancer patients benefit from immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy because of immune evasion and immune-related adverse events (irAEs). The mechanisms underlying how tumor cells regulate immune cell response remain largely unknown. Here we show that hexokinase domain component 1 (HKDC1) promotes tumor immune evasion in a CD8+ T cell-dependent manner by activating STAT1/PD-L1 in tumor cells. Mechanistically, HKDC1 binds to and presents cytosolic STAT1 to IFNGR1 on the plasma membrane following IFNγ-stimulation by associating with cytoskeleton protein ACTA2, resulting in STAT1 phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. HKDC1 inhibition in combination with anti-PD-1/PD-L1 enhances in vivo T cell antitumor response in liver cancer models in male mice. Clinical sample analysis indicates a correlation among HKDC1 expression, STAT1 phosphorylation, and survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated with atezolizumab (anti-PD-L1). These findings reveal a role for HKDC1 in regulating immune evasion by coupling cytoskeleton with STAT1 activation, providing a potential combination strategy to enhance antitumor immune responses. Aberrant expression of the human hexokinase HKDC1 has been observed in patients with cancer. Here the authors report that HKDC1 expression is associated with hepatocellular carcinoma progression and PD-L1 mediated immune evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rare Metals is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The annual frequency of ground surface freeze–thaw (AFGSFT) is a crucial indicator of hydrological processes, climate change, and energy balance, as it directly measures the number of times the ground surface freezes and thaws within a year. Unlike other indicators, such as freezing depth and duration, AFGSFT is more closely related to ground surface water heat exchange. However, the mechanism behind the variability of the long-term AFGSFT time series in China remains largely unknown. Based on the observation data from 707 meteorological stations, the AFGSFT in China from 1960 to 2020 was analyzed. The analysis revealed a decreasing trend in AFGSFT from 1960 to 2020, with the highest value observed in the central Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the rate of change in AFGSFT increasing with elevation. Despite these changes, the spatial distribution of AFGSFT closely aligns with the two regions divided by the Hu Huanyong Line (Hu Line). Elevation was found to be the primary geographic factor explaining the spatial variation of AFGSFT, while the ground surface temperature was the main environmental factor. Using the autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA), the study projected that the downward trend of AFGSFT will slow down in the next decade. The widespread climate warming was identified as the primary cause of AFGSFT changes, and this effect is expected to contribute significantly to the climate warming process in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to screen Copy Number Variations (CNVs) in 35 unsolved Inherited Retinal Dystrophy (IRD) families. Initially, next generation sequencing, including a specific Hereditary Eye Disease Enrichment Panel or Whole exome sequencing, was employed to screen (likely) pathogenic Single-nucleotide Variants (SNVs) and small Insertions and Deletions (indels) for these cases. All available SNVs and indels were further validated and co-segregation analyses were performed in available family members by Sanger sequencing. If not, after excluding deep intronic variants, Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), quantitative fluorescence PCR (QF-PCR) and Sanger sequencing were employed to screen CNVs. We determined that 18 probands who had heterozygous SNVs/indels or whose parents were not consanguineous but had homozygous SNVs/indels in autosomal recessive IRDs genes had CNVs in another allele of these genes, 11 families had disease-causing hemizygous CNVs in X-linked IRD genes, 6 families had (likely) pathogenic heterozygous CNVs in PRPF31 gene. Of 35 families, 33 different CNVs in 16 IRD-associated genes were detected, with PRPF31, EYS and USH2A the most common disease-causing gene in CNVs. Twenty-six and 7 of them were deletion and duplication CNVs, respectively. Among them, 14 CNVs were first reported in this study. Our research indicates that CNVs contribute a lot to IRDs, and screening of CNVs substantially increases the diagnostic rate of IRD. Our results emphasize that MLPA and QF-PCR are ideal methods to validate CNVs, and the novel CNVs reported herein expand the mutational spectrums of IRDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensities and locations of rockbursts directly relate to both the magnitude and direction of the in-situ principal stresses in the rock mass. Therefore, achieving an accurate estimation of the in-situ stresses is essential when making rockburst assessments. Typically, the cases in deep tunnels are located in hard rock in tectonic regions near steep valleys. This study focuses on evaluating the complete in-situ stress tensor in deep tunnels in hard rock starting from the geological structure, topography, and in-situ stresses measured in the tunnel area, using multivariate linear regression. By inverting the three-dimensional (3D) in-situ stress field, a novel criterion was proposed for assessing rockburst potential that takes into account the directions of the in-situ principal stresses with respect to the axis of the tunnel. The new integrated approach is supported by rockburst generation in a tunnel in southwestern China. If the tunneling axis intersects the direction of the major horizontal principal stress at a large inclined angle, the post-excavation maximum stress would increase by some times. Taking into account the Kirsch solution, considerable stress concentrates after the tunnel excavation. Even though the overburden is less than 300 m, rockbursts occur frequently during excavation. The main reason for their occurrence is thought to be the in-situ stress field in the valley. Numerical modeling demonstrates a significant concentration of in-situ stress on both sides of the faults present. Moreover, rockbursts are expected to occur over 63.52% of the total length of the tunnel. Specifically, these rockbursts are expected to be of weak–moderate intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prostate is a vital accessory gonad in the mammalian male reproductive system. With the ever-increasing proportion of the population over 60 years of age worldwide, the incidence of prostate diseases, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and prostate cancer (PCa), is on the rise and is gradually becoming a significant medical problem globally. The notch signaling pathway is essential in regulating prostate early development. However, the potential regulatory mechanism of Notch signaling in prostatic enlargement and hyperplasia remains unclear. In this study, we proved that overactivation of Notch1 signaling in mouse prostatic epithelial cells (OEx) led to prostatic enlargement via enhancing proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis of prostatic epithelial cells. Further study showed that N1ICD/RBPJ directly up-regulated the androgen receptor (AR) and enhanced prostatic sensitivity to androgens. Hyper-proliferation was not found in orchidectomized OEx mice without androgen supply but was observed after Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) supplementation. Our data showed that the number of mitochondrion in prostatic epithelial cells of OEx mice was increased, but the mitochondrial function was impaired, and the essential activity of the mitochondrial respiratory electron transport chain was significantly weakened. Disordered mitochondrial number and metabolic function further resulted in excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Importantly, anti-oxidant N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) therapy could alleviate prostatic hyperplasia caused by the over-activation of Notch1 signaling. Furthermore, we observed the incremental Notch signaling activity in progenitor-like club cells in the scRNA-seq data set of human BPH patients. Moreover, the increased number of TROP2+ progenitors and Club cells was also confirmed in our OEx mice. In conclusion, our study revealed that over-activated Notch1 signaling induces prostatic enlargement by increasing androgen receptor sensitivity, disrupting cellular mitochondrial metabolism, increasing ROS, and a higher number of progenitor cells, all of which can be effectively rescued by NAC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The users of the Dark Web require a secure and highly anonymous environment to exchange information while protecting their online privacy, which presents a privacy dilemma. This paper examines the digital footprints of user behavior on the three most popular cryptomarket forums on the Dark Web, namely Silk Road 1, Silk Road 2, and Agora. The results indicate that users who engage in more conversations and employ a wider range of vocabulary are more likely to discontinue their participation on the forum. Intriguingly, no significant relationship is found between network characteristics and user engagement. These findings emphasize that the risk of exposure within anonymous communities primarily stems from the potency of information rather than social connections, which sheds light on the privacy dilemma inherent in the Dark Web and provides deeper insights into the online user behavior surrounding anonymity-granting technologies on the Internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ecological significance of secondary metabolites is to improve the adaptive ability of plants. Secondary metabolites, usually medicinal ingredients, are triggered by unsuitable environment, thus the quality of medicinal materials under adversity being better. The quality of the cultivated was heavily declined due to its good conditions. Radix Saposhnikoviae, the dried root of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk., is one of the most common botanicals in Asian countries, now basically comes from cultivation, resulting in the market price being only 1/10 to 1/3 of its wild counterpart, so improving the quality of cultivated Radix Saposhnikoviae is of urgency. Nitric oxide (NO) plays a crucial role in generating reactive oxygen species and modifying the secondary metabolism of plants. This study aims to enhance the quality of cultivated Radix Saposhnikoviae by supplementing exogenous NO. To achieve this, sodium nitroprusside (SNP) was utilized as an NO provider and applied to fresh roots of S. divaricata at concentrations of 0.03, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mmol/L. This study measured parameters including the activities of antioxidant enzymes, secondary metabolite synthesis enzymes such as phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), and chalcone synthase (CHS), as well as the contents of NO, superoxide radicals (O2·−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), and four secondary metabolites. The quality of Radix Saposhnikoviae was evaluated with antipyretic, analgesic, anti-inflammatory effects, and inflammatory factors. As a result, the NO contents in the fresh roots were significantly increased under SNP, which led to a significant increase of O2·−, H2O2, and MDA. The activities of important antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD), were found to increase as well, with their peak levels observed on the 2nd and 3rd days. PAL, ACC, and CHS activities were also significantly enhanced, resulting in the increased secondary metabolite contents of Radix saposhnikoviae in all groups, especially the 0.5 mmol/L SNP. The four active ingredients, prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 4′-O-β-d-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, and sec-O-glucosylhamaudol, increased by 88.3%,325.0%, 55.4%, and 283.8%, respectively, on the 3rd day. The pharmaceutical effects of Radix Saposhnikoviae under 0.5 mmol/L SNP were significantly enhanced. Exogenous SNP can induce the physiological response of S. divaricata under adverse conditions and significantly improve the quality of Radix Saposhnikoviae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum random number generator (QRNG) based on the inherent randomness of fundamental quantum processes can provide provable true random numbers which play an important role in many fields. However, the security of practical QRNGs is linked to the performance of realistic devices. In particular, devices based on the Faraday effect in a QRNG system may be affected by external magnetic fields, which will inevitably open a loophole that an eavesdropper can exploit to steal the information of generated random numbers. In this work, the effects of external magnetic fields on the security of practical QRNGs are analyzed. Taking the quantum phase fluctuation based QRNG with unbalanced Michelson interferometer as an example, we experimentally demonstrate the rotation angle of the Faraday rotation mirror (FRM) is influenced by external magnetic fields. Then, we develop a theoretical model between the rotation angle deviation of FRM and conditional min-entropy. Simulation results show that the imperfect FRM leads to a reduction in the variance of measured signal and extractable randomness. Furthermore, the impacts of practical sampling device on the extractable randomness are analyzed in the presence of imperfect FRM, which indicates suitable parameters of the sampling device can improve the security of practical QRNGs. Potential countermeasures are also proposed. Our work reveals that external magnetic fields should be carefully considered in the application of practical QRNGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental pollutants are ubiquitous in our environmental media, resulting in detrimental impacts on both humans and the environment. An evidence-based review, particularly a systematic review and meta-analysis, performs a crucial function in assessing the pollution status of pollutants in environmental media at national and global scales. We selected and thoroughly investigated 76 papers focusing on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of contaminants in environmental media. The need to broaden the scope of studies was observed with an increase in the total number of publications, and there were greater focuses on food safety, water pollution, biological pollution, and environmental risks. Furthermore, this review outlined the fundamental procedures involved in a systematic review and meta-analysis, including literature searching, screening of articles, study quality analysis, data extraction and synthesis, and meta-analysis. A meta-analysis typically comprises fixed- and/or random-effects meta-analysis, identifying and measuring heterogeneity, sensitivity analysis, publication bias, subgroup analysis, and meta-regression. We specifically explored the application of meta-analysis to assess the presence of contaminants in environmental media based on two different pollutant categories, namely, non-biological and biological pollutants. The mean value is commonly utilized to assess the pooled concentration of non-biological pollutants, while the prevalence serves as the effect size of biological pollutants. Additionally, we summarized the innovative applications, frequent misuses, and problems encountered in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Finally, we proposed several suggestions for future research endeavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiogenesis occurred after myocardial infarction (MI) protects heart failure (HF). The aim of our study was to explore function of histone methyltransferase KMT2D (MLL4, mixed-lineage leukemia 4) in angiogenesis post-MI. Western blotting showed that KMT2D protein expression was elevated in MI mouse myocardial. Cardiomyocyte-specific Kmt2d-knockout (Kmt2d-cKO) mice were generated, and echocardiography and immunofluorescence staining detected significantly attenuated cardiac function and insufficient angiogenesis following MI in Kmt2d-cKO mice. Cross-talk assay suggested that Kmt2d-KO H9c2-derived conditioned medium attenuates EA.hy926 EC function. ELISA further identified that VEGF-A released from Kmt2d-KO H9c2 was significantly reduced. CUT&Tag and RT-qPCR revealed that KMT2D deficiency reduced Vegf-a mRNA expression and enrichment of H3K4me1 on the Vegf-a promoter. Moreover, KMT2D silencing in ECs also suppressed endothelial function. Our study indicates that KMT2D depletion in both cardiomyocytes and ECs attenuates angiogenesis and that loss of KMT2D exacerbates heart failure after MI in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dozens of loci associated with fracture have been identified by genome-wide association studies (GWASs). However, most of these variants are located in the noncoding regions including introns, long terminal repeats, and intergenic regions. Although combining regulation information helps to identify the causal SNPs and interpret the involvement of these variants in the etiology of human fracture, regulation information which was truly associated with fracture was unknown. A novel functional enrichment method GARFIELD (GWAS Analysis of Regulatory of Functional Information Enrichment with LD correction) was applied to identify fracture-associated regulation information, including transcript factor binding sites, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), chromatin states, enhancer, promoter, dyadic, super enhancer and Epigenome marks. Fracture SNPs were significantly enriched in exon (Bonferroni correction, p value < 7.14 × 10–3) at two GWAS p value thresholds through GARFIELD. High level of fold-enrichment was observed in super enhancer of monocyte and the enhancer of chondrocyte (Bonferroni correction, p value < 4.45 × 10–3). eQTLs of 44 tissues/cells and 10 transcription factors (TFs) were identified to be associated with human fracture. These results provide new insight into the etiology of human fracture, which might increase the identification of the causal SNPs through the fine-mapping study combined with functional annotation, as well as polygenic risk score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparation of chemically recyclable polyesters by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) has made a considerable progress over the past few years. However, this method involves cumbersome synthesis and minimal functional diversity of cyclic monomers. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop novel polymerization methods for direct polymerization of commercially available monomers to prepare recyclable polyesters with versatile functionalities. In present work, we report dehydrogenative copolymerization of commercial α,ω-diols to afford high molecular weight chemically recyclable aliphatic copolyesters (65.7 kg·mol−1) by using commercially available Milstein catalyst precursor. The thermal properties of the obtained copolymers could be finely tuned by simply adjusting the feeding ratio of two monomers. The incorporation of aliphatic or aromatic rings into polyester mainchain via copolymerization of 1,10-decanediol with 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol and 1,4-benzenedimethanol could significantly improve the thermal properties of the resulting copolymers. More importantly, the obtained copolyesters were able to completely depolymerize back to original diols via hydrogenation by the same catalyst in solvent-free and mild conditions, thus offering a green and cost-effective route toward the preparation of widely used polyesters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing an efficient and accurate epilepsy detection system is an urgent research task. In this paper, we developed an EEG-based multi-frequency multilayer brain network (MMBN) and an attentional mechanism based convolutional neural network (AM-CNN) model to study epilepsy detection. Specifically, based on the multi-frequency characteristics of the brain, we first use wavelet packet decomposition and reconstruction methods to divide the original EEG signals into eight frequency bands, and then construct MMBN through correlation analysis between brain regions, where each layer corresponds to a specific frequency band. The time, frequency and channel related information of EEG signals are mapped into the multilayer network topology. On this basis, a multi-branch AM-CNN model is designed, which completely matches the multilayer structure of the proposed brain network. The experimental results on public CHB-MIT datasets show that eight frequency bands divided in this work are all helpful for epilepsy detection, and the fusion of multi-frequency information can effectively decode the epileptic brain state, achieving accurate detection of epilepsy with an average accuracy of 99.75%, sensitivity of 99.43%, and specificity of 99.83%. All of these provide reliable technical solutions for EEG-based neurological disease detection, especially for epilepsy detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the long-term clinical and radiological results of meniscal allograft transplantation (MAT) for discoid lateral meniscus (DLM) patients with MAT for non-discoid lateral meniscus patients and meniscectomy (ME) for DLM patients and, thus, to determine whether DLM patients are suitable candidates for MAT. Methods: Eight MAT cases in DLM patients were identified (discoid MAT group), six MAT cases in non-discoid lateral meniscus patients (non-discoid MAT group) and ten total meniscectomy cases in DLM patients (discoid ME group) were matched as controls. Subjective evaluations, postoperative radiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were conducted at 5 years and 10–14 years, respectively. Joint degeneration was evaluated by the Kellgren–Lawrance (KL) grade and joint space width (JSW). MRI with T2 mapping sequences was used to quantitatively evaluate degeneration of the joint cartilage and shrinkage of the allografts. Student's t test was used to compare quantitative variables and the Mann‒Whitney U test was used to compare categorical variables. Results: There was no difference in Lysholm, IKDC, Tegner or VAS scores amongst the discoid MAT, non-discoid MAT and discoid ME groups at the final follow-up. No revision surgery was performed in any MAT patient. The JSW narrowing in the discoid MAT group was better than that in the discoid ME group (0.8 ± 0.4 mm vs. 2.1 ± 1.3 mm, p = 0.012) and worse than that in the non-discoid MAT group (0.1 ± 0.1 mm, p = 0.003). The KL progression of the discoid MAT group was less than that of the discoid ME group (1.3 ± 0.7 vs. 2.3 ± 0.9, p = 0.034). The discoid ME group had worse cartilage lesion progression than the discoid MAT and non-discoid MAT groups. The allograft width of the DLM patients shrank more than that of the non-discoid patients at the meniscus midbody (3.6 ± 0.9 mm vs. 6.2 ± 1.9 mm, p = 0.015). Conclusion: Compared to meniscectomy, MAT achieved similar long-term symptom relief and superior chondroprotection in discoid meniscus patients. Despite more graft shrinkage, the outcomes of MAT in discoid meniscus patients were comparable to those in non-discoid meniscus patients. Therefore, DLM patients may be suitable candidates for MAT procedures. Level of evidence: Level III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, there has an ever-growing interest in layered LiNixMnyCozO2 (NMCs, x + y + z = 1) cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and lithium metal batteries (LMBs), due to their low cost and high capacity. However, they still suffer from a series of issues, such as Li/Ni cation mixing, irreversible phase transition, and transition metal dissolution. These issues result in severe capacity degradation and limited cyclability of NMCs. Recently, atomic and molecular layer deposition (ALD and MLD) have emerged as a novel tool to tackle these issues, featuring their unique capabilities to fine-tailor NMCs' surfaces for stable interfaces and improved electrochemical performance in LIBs and LMBs. In this review, we specially summarize the recent advances of different ALD and MLD coatings on NMCs and discuss their working mechanisms. We expect that this review will stimulate more efforts to further develop better NMCs using novel ALD/MLD coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is an objective approach for the estimation of population-level exposure to a wide range of substances, in which the use of a population biomarker (PB) could significantly reduce back-calculation errors. Although some endogenous or exogenous compounds such as cotinine and other hormones have been developed as PBs, more PBs still need to be identified and evaluated. This study aimed to propose a novel method to estimate population parameters from the mass load of metal ion biomarkers in wastewater, and estimate the consumption of tobacco in 24 cities in Southern China using the developed method. Daily wastewater samples were collected from 234 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in 24 cities in Southern China. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was applied to determine the concentrations of common health-related metal ions in wastewater, including sodium (Na), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn), and compared them with the daily mass load of cotinine corresponding to catchment populations. The concentrations of cotinine in wastewater samples were measured using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. There were clear and strong correlations between the target metal ion equivalent population and census data. The correlation coefficients (R) were RK = 0.78, RNa = 0.66, RCa = 0.81, RMg = 0.77, and RFe = 0.69, at p < 0.01 and R2 > 0.6. Subsequently, the combination of WBE and metal ion PBs was used to estimate tobacco consumption. Daily consumption of nicotine was estimated to be approximately 1.76 ± 1.19 mg/d/capita, equivalent to an average of 13.0 ± 8.75 cigarettes/d being consumed by smokers. The data on tobacco consumption in this study were consistent with those in traditional surveys in Southern China. The metal ion potassium is an appropriate PB for reflecting the real-time population and could be used to evaluate the tobacco consumption in WBE study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acupuncture point specificity has been recognized as a key scientific issue in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), but there is limited clinical trial or animal study to verify the characteristics of PC6, BL15, and ST36 in the protection from myocardial injury. We aimed to compare the effects among these three acupoints on the acute myocardial infarction mice model and to explore possible mechanisms for the first time. We found that PC6 is the most appropriate acupoint to deliver efficacy and safety to treat acute MI in mice. BL15 stimulation improved the systolic function, but increased the risk of arrhythmia. ST36 only slightly attenuated systolic function and had no effect on arrhythmia during MI. RNA profiles of skin tissue in local acupoints demonstrated that the most altered DEGs and related pathways may partly support its best effects of PC6 treatment on MI injury, and support the observed phenomenon of the acupoint specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs), a class of typical endocrine disruptors, have received considerable attention due to their widespread applications and adverse effects on biological health. In this study, 30 water samples, along the mainstream of the Yangtze River (YR), were collected from Chongqing (upper stream) to Shanghai (estuary) from May to June in 2019. The total concentrations of 16 targeted PAEs ranged from 0.437 to 20.5 μg/L, with an average of 1.93 μg/L, where dibutyl phthalate (DBP, 0.222–20.2 μg/L), bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP, 0.254–7.03 μg/L), and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP, 0.0645–0.621 μg/L) were the most abundant PAEs. According to the pollution level in the YR to assess the ecological risk posed by PAEs, the results showed medium risk level of PAEs in the YR, among which DBP and DEHP posed a high ecological risk to aquatic organisms. The optimal solution for DBP and DEHP is found in ten fitting curves. The PNECSSD of them is 2.50 μg/L and 0.34 μg/L, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of studies relating ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure to hospital admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) were conducted among urban population. Whether and to what extent these results could be generalizable to rural population remains unknown. We addressed this question using data from the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) in Fuyang, Anhui, China. Daily hospital admissions for total CVDs, ischaemic heart disease, heart failure, heart rhythm disturbances, ischaemic stroke, and haemorrhagic stroke in rural regions of Fuyang, China, were extracted from NRCMS between January 2015 and June 2017. A two-stage time-series analysis method was used to assess the associations between NO2 and CVD hospital admissions and the disease burden fractions attributable to NO2. In our study period, the average number (standard deviation) of hospital admissions per day were 488.2 (117.1) for total CVDs, 179.8 (45.6) for ischaemic heart disease, 7.0 (3.3) for heart rhythm disturbances, 13.2 (7.2) for heart failure, 267.9 (67.7) for ischaemic stroke, and 20.2 (6.4) for haemorrhagic stroke. The 10-μg/m3 increase of NO2 was related to an elevated risk of 1.9% (RR: 1.019, 95% CI: 1.005 to 1.032) for hospital admissions of total CVDs at lag0–2 days, 2.1% (1.021, 1.006 to 1.036) for ischaemic heart disease, and 2.1% (1.021, 1.006 to 1.035) for ischaemic stroke, respectively, while no significant association was observed between NO2 and hospital admissions for heart rhythm disturbances, heart failure, and haemorrhagic stroke. The attributable fractions of total CVDs, ischaemic heart disease, and ischaemic stroke to NO2 were 6.52% (1.87 to 10.94%), 7.31% (2.19 to 12.17%), and 7.12% (2.14 to 11.85%), respectively. Our findings suggest that CVD burdens in rural population are also partly attributed to short-term exposure to NO2. More studies across rural regions are required to replicate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of interactions between the toxic and essential metal mixtures on cognitive function are poorly understood. This study aims to identify the joint association of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and lead (Pb) with cognitive function in older adults and the moderating role of selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), and copper (Cu) in this association. This study included 1000 community-dwelling older adults. Cognitive function was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Blood concentrations of As, Cd, Pb, Se, Zn, and Cu were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models were applied to assess the individual and joint associations of As, Cd, and Pb with cognitive function and to examine whether Se, Zn, and Cu (individually and as a mixture) modified these associations. In the adjusted single-metal models, both Cd (β = − 0.37, 95% CI: − 0.73 to − 0.01) and Pb (β = − 0.44, 95% CI: − 0.86 to − 0.02) were associated with MMSE scores, while Se (β = 0.71, 95% CI: 0.30 to 1.13) exhibited a positive relationship with MMSE scores. Univariate exposure–response functions from BKMR models showed similar results. Moreover, the toxic metal mixture (As, Cd, and Pb) exhibited a significant negative association with MMSE scores in a dose–response pattern, with Pb being the greatest contributor within the mixture. The negative association of Pb alone or the toxic metal mixture with MMSE scores became weaker at higher concentrations of Se within its normal range, especially when Se levels were greater than the median (89.18 μg/L). Our findings support that Se can attenuate the negative associations of exposure to single Pb or the As, Cd, and Pb mixtures with cognitive function. Future prospective studies are needed to replicate our findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization with nonnegative orthogonality constraints has wide applications in machine learning and data sciences. It is NP-hard due to some combinatorial properties of the constraints. We first propose an equivalent optimization formulation with nonnegative and multiple spherical constraints and an additional single nonlinear constraint. Various constraint qualifications, the first- and second-order optimality conditions of the equivalent formulation are discussed. By establishing a local error bound of the feasible set, we design a class of (smooth) exact penalty models via keeping the nonnegative and multiple spherical constraints. The penalty models are exact if the penalty parameter is sufficiently large but finite. A practical penalty algorithm with postprocessing is then developed to approximately solve a series of subproblems with nonnegative and multiple spherical constraints. We study the asymptotic convergence and establish that any limit point is a weakly stationary point of the original problem and becomes a stationary point under some additional mild conditions. Extensive numerical results on the problem of computing the orthogonal projection onto nonnegative orthogonality constraints, the orthogonal nonnegative matrix factorization problems and the K-indicators model show the effectiveness of our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrocatalytic water splitting as a green chemical process to evolve H2 has increasingly attracted attention. Using fresh water as the proton source not only increases the cost but also significantly hinders the wide applications of electrocatalysis in H2 production. Instead, seawater is more competitive compared to fresh water from the economic aspects, but more challenging from the technical aspects. Technically, insoluble solids and chloride ions in seawater significantly affect the electrocatalytic activity and stability of catalysts. Great efforts have been spared to develop highly effective electrocatalysts for seawater splitting, and various strategies have been raised. Herein, we categorized and discussed recently reported composites applied in electrocatalytic seawater splitting. Future perspectives for the advancement of seawater-based electrocatalysts have been proposed at the end. We hope to provide some new understanding and methods for the reasonable construction of state-of-the-art electrocatalysts to tackle the challenges of seawater splitting. 摘要: 电催化水裂解作为一种绿色的制氢过程受到人们的关注。使用淡水作为电解液不仅增加了成本, 而且严重阻碍了电催化在制氢中的广泛应用。相反, 海水在经济方面比淡水更有竞争力, 但在技术方面更具挑战性。从技术上讲, 海水中的不溶性固体和氯离子会严重影响催化剂的电催化活性和稳定性。目前, 人们一直在努力开发高效的海水裂解电催化剂, 并提出了各种策略。在此, 我们对最近报道的用于电催化海水裂解的复合材料进行了分类和讨论。最后, 对海水基电催化剂的发展前景进行了展望。我们希望可以为合理构建最先进的电催化剂以应对海水分解的挑战提供一些新的认识和方法。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the effective separation of cellulose from bamboo through a two-step process. Several organic alkalies 2-pyrrolidinone, ethylurea, dibutylamine, N-methylformamide and tetramethyl guanidine were used to remove lignin and isolate cellulose from massive bamboo. The results showed that tetramethyl guanidine can effectively remove lignin and hemicellulose while retaining almost all the cellulose in the residual solid. The removal of lignin and hemicellulose achieved 86.0 and 84.0% after heating for 3 h at 150 °C, respectively. Subsequently, the final removal of lignin and hemicellulose increased to 91.5 and 93.8%, respectively, after a simple alkaline H2O2 bleach treatment. Interestingly, the loss of cellulose was very small after two-step treatments, and 96.9% of the component was still retained. The crystallinity increased from 69.8–75.2% in X-ray diffraction graphs due to the removal of lignin and hemicellulose. The Scanning electron microscopy images indicated that the diameter of cellulose bundles decreased from 80–100 µm to about 50 µm after organic alkali treatment, and then the fiber bundle was completely separated into a single long fiber with a diameter of about 10 µm after H2O2 bleaching. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy spectra confirmed the high selective removal of lignin and hemicellulose. Two-dimensional 1H-13 C Heteronuclear singular quantum correlation were analyzed to investigate the lignin structure and found that only the signals of –OCH3, Cγ–Hγ in β-O-4' (Aγ) and β-β' (Cγ) structures and C5-H5 in guaiacyl (G5) did not disappear after two-step treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evidence about the association of the essential trace element (ETE) mixture with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) amongst older adults is limited. This study aims to evaluate the associations of single ETEs and the ETE mixture with the 10-year ASCVD risks and its predicting factors in Chinese community-dwelling older adults. A total of 607 community-dwelling older adults were included in this study. Blood levels of vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), and selenium (Se) were assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The predicted 10-year ASCVD risk was calculated using the Prediction for ASCVD Risk in China (China-PAR) equations. Traditional linear regressions and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to assess the associations of single ETEs and the ETE mixture with the 10-year ASCVD risks and its predicting factors such as systolic blood pressure (SBP), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), diabetes, and waist circumference (WC). In linear regression models, blood Cr levels were negatively associated with the 10-year ASCVD risks after adjustment for covariates (β = − 0.07, 95% CI = − 0.11 ~ − 0.03); The 3th quartile (Q3) of Se levels was also associated with a lower 10-year ASCVD risks when compared with the lowest quartile (Q1) of Se levels (βQ3 vs. Q1: − 0.12, 95% CI = − 0.22 ~ − 0.02). In BKMR models, the negative associations of Cr and Se with the 10-year ASCVD risks were observed. Higher blood levels of ETE mixture were associated with decreased 10-year ASCVD risks in a dose–response pattern, with Cr having the highest value of the posterior inclusion probability (PIP) within the mixture. Furthermore, a positive association between Cr and HDL-C and a negative association between Se and SBP were found in both linear regression and BKMR models. Cr and Se were negatively associated with the 10-year ASCVD risks, individually and as a mixture. ETE mixture showed a linear dose–response association with decreased 10-year ASCVD risks, with Cr being the most important component within the mixture. The negative association of the ETE mixture with the 10-year ASCVD risks may be attributed to Cr and Se, mainly mediated by HDL-C and SBP, respectively. Further cohort studies are needed to clarify this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

L-Carnitine is widespread in nature, but little information is available on its metabolism and physiological functions in moderate halophiles. In this study, we found that Chromohalobacter salexigens DSM 3043 could utilize carnitine not only as a nutrient, but also as an osmolyte. When grown at 37 °C under salt-stress conditions, the strain utilized carnitine as an osmoprotectant by enzymatically converting it into GB. When grown at low and high temperature, both carnitine and its metabolic intermediate GB were simultaneously accumulated intracellularly, serving as cryoprotectants and thermoprotectants. The genes (csal_3172, csal_3173, and csal_3174) which were predicted to participate in L-carnitine degradation to GB were deleted to construct the corresponding mutants. The effects of salinity and temperature on the growth rates and cytoplasmic solute pools of the C. salexigens wild-type and mutant strains were investigated. 13C-NMR analysis revealed that GB was still detected in the Δcsal_3172Δcsal_3173Δcsal_3174 mutant grown in a defined medium with added DL-carnitine, but not with L-carnitine, indicating that an unidentified D-carnitine degradation pathway exists in C. salexigens. Taken together, the data presented in this study expand our knowledge on carnitine metabolism and its physiological functions in C. salexigens exposed to single or multiple environmental abiotic stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seawater intrusion and soil salinization, the most common environmental problems along coastal plains, both result in high levels of pH, Na+ and low level of Ca2+, which favors sediment fluoride-leaching. But interestingly, groundwater in soil salinization area has lower fluorine levels than that in seawater intrusion area although it is more intruded. A seawater intrusion area (Buzhuang Town) and a soil salinization area (Kenli District) were selected along Laizhou Bay, Shandong Province. The sediment fluoride levels and FTIR characteristics were determined to reveal the differences of fluoride evolution in the two areas. The sediment fluoride levels in the two areas are within the safe limit. However, fluoride levels in aquifer sediments in Buzhuang Town (130–272 mg/kg) are extraordinarily lower than those in Kenli District (554–609.8 mg/kg), although Buzhuang Town is characterized by drinking-water fluorosis and Kenli District is not. This indicates Buzhang Town has stronger fluoride leaching-ability in the aquifer sediments than Kenli District, which is the important cause for the high-fluorine groundwater in Buzhuang Town. The sediments in Kenli District have higher intensities of OM (organic matter), OH– and CaCO3 bands than those in Buzhuang Town. The stronger adsorption of OM to F– lowers sediment fluoride-leaching in Kenli District. The more mixture of seawater in Kenli District causes the higher sediment OH–, and the F-O exchange contributes more to fluoride-leaching than OH–F exchange. Moreover, the higher Ca2+ in Kenli District restricts fluoride-leaching and causes higher sediment CaCO3 bands, which is the important factor influencing sediment fluoride-leaching. While the extraordinarily increasing Na+ levels in Kenli District contribute less to fluoride-leaching when the fluoride-leaching is restricted by Ca2+ levels. A model of FTIR evolution in aquifer sediments with the effect of seawater intrusion is forwarded, which is significant for fluorosis along coastal plains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central South University is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term clinical and radiological outcomes between the immediate and delayed meniscus allograft transplantation (MAT). Methods: Nine menisci were transplanted immediately after total meniscectomy (immediate group, IM), and 10 menisci were delayed transplanted in patients with the median of 35 months (range 9–92 months) after total meniscectomy (delayed group, DE). Patient's subjective clinical outcomes including VAS, IKDC, Lysholm and Tegner scores as well as muscle strength measures were compared. Joint degeneration was evaluated by both radiographs to assess joint space width narrowing, Kellegren–Lawrence (KL) grade and MRI with T2 mapping sequences to quantitatively analyze both cartilage and meniscal allograft degeneration. Results: The median follow-up time was 10.8 years (range 10–14 years). The IKDC (IM vs DE, 89.8 vs 80.9, n.s.) and Lysholm scores (IM vs DE, 87.7 vs 78.0, n.s.) were close in two groups, while the IM group showed slightly lower VAS (IM vs DE, 0.2 vs 1.5, p = 0.031), higher Tegner score (IM vs DE, 7 vs 3.5 p = 0.021) and better quadriceps muscle strength. The IM group had less joint space narrowing (IM vs DE, 0.35 mm vs 0.71 mm, n.s.), less KL grade progression (IM vs DE, 0.6 vs 1.7, p = 0.041) on radiographs and less chondral lesions development on MRIs (Cartilage Degeneration Index, IM vs DE, 252 vs 2038, p = 0.025). All meniscal grafts exhibited degeneration by showing grade 3 signal on MRI, and 4 (4/9) in the IM group and 8 (8/10) cases in the DE group. The T2 value of cartilage and meniscal allograft in the IM group was close to that of the healthy control and was significantly lower than that of the DE group. Conclusion: Compared to the conventional delayed MAT, the immediate MAT achieved better cartilage and meniscus protection in the long-term, while its superiority in patient-reported outcomes was limited. Level of evidence: IV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clutter suppression poses serious problems for airborne, bistatic radar systems. Suppression may be increased using space-time adaptive processing (STAP), but suppression of slow targets is poor and target detectability is compromised. Furthermore, sufficient independent and identically (IID) training samples cannot be obtained through the use of practical applications, and the STAP performance degrades significantly due to the inaccuracy of the estimated clutter-plus-noise covariance matrix, especially in nonstationary and heterogeneous environments. Here, we present a new airborne, bistatic radar system. We transform the array from a single polarized channel to two channels, each with two orthogonally polarized antennae, and combine polarization-dimensional information with that of the space-time domain; we term our algorithm "polarization-space-time adaptive processing". This algorithm further suppresses clutter and enhances the detection of slow targets. Sparse recovery space-time adaptive processing (SR-STAP) can reduce the need for clutter samples and suppress clutter effectively using limited training samples for airborne radar. The algorithm first uses the clutter sparse recovery function of STAP to suppress clutter in the H and V channels. Then, polarization processing is employed to further restrict mainlobe clutter. We present numerical examples to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]