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Urinary proteomics is emerging as a potent tool for detecting sensitive and non-invasive biomarkers. At present, the comparability of urinary proteomics data across diverse liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry (LC-MS) platforms remains an area that requires investigation. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive evaluation of urinary proteome across multiple LC-MS platforms. To systematically analyze and assess the quality of large-scale urinary proteomics data, we develop a comprehensive quality control (QC) system named MSCohort, which extracted 81 metrics for individual experiment and the whole cohort quality evaluation. Additionally, we present a standard operating procedure (SOP) for high-throughput urinary proteome analysis based on MSCohort QC system. Our study involves 20 LC-MS platforms and reveals that, when combined with a comprehensive QC system and a unified SOP, the data generated by data-independent acquisition (DIA) workflow in urine QC samples exhibit high robustness, sensitivity, and reproducibility across multiple LC-MS platforms. Furthermore, we apply this SOP to hybrid benchmarking samples and clinical colorectal cancer (CRC) urinary proteome including 527 experiments. Across three different LC-MS platforms, the analyses report high quantitative reproducibility and consistent disease patterns. This work lays the groundwork for large-scale clinical urinary proteomics studies spanning multiple platforms, paving the way for precision medicine research. Urinary proteomics offers sensitive, non-invasive biomarkers, but cross-platform LC-MS data comparability requires investigation. Here, the authors evaluate 20 LC-MS platforms, developing MSCohort, a QC system with 81 metrics, and a unified SOP, paving the way for precision medicine research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes involves the death or dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells. Analysis of bulk sequencing from human samples and studies using in vitro and in vivo models suggest that endoplasmic reticulum and inflammatory signaling play an important role in diabetes progression. To better characterize cell type-specific stress response, we perform multiplexed single-cell RNA sequencing to define the transcriptional signature of primary human islet cells exposed to endoplasmic reticulum and inflammatory stress. Through comprehensive pair-wise analysis of stress responses across pancreatic endocrine and exocrine cell types, we define changes in gene expression for each cell type under different diabetes-associated stressors. We find that β-, α-, and ductal cells have the greatest transcriptional response. We utilize stem cell-derived islets to study islet health through the candidate gene CIB1, which was upregulated under stress in primary human islets. Our findings provide insights into cell type-specific responses to diabetes-associated stress and establish a resource to identify targets for diabetes therapeutics. Endoplasmic reticulum and inflammatory stress are associated with diabetes. Maestas et al. use single-cell sequencing to profile primary human islets under stress and identified tissue and cell-type responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to reveal the urinary and serum metabolic pattern of endometrial cancer (EC) and establish diagnostic models to identify EC from controls, high-risk from low-risk EC, and type II from type I EC. Method: This study included 146 EC patients (comprising 79 low-risk and 67 high-risk patients, including 124 type I and 22 type II) and 59 controls. The serum and urine samples were analyzed using ultraperformance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Analysis was used to elucidate the distinct metabolites and altered metabolic pathways. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were employed to discover and validate the potential biomarker models. Results: Serum and urine metabolomes displayed significant differences between EC and controls, with metabolites related to amino acid and nicotinamide metabolisms. The serum and urine panels distinguished these two groups with Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.821 and 0.902, respectively. The panel consisting of serum and urine metabolites demonstrated the best predictive ability (AUC = 0.953 and 0.976 in discovering and validation group). In comparing high-risk and low risk EC, differential metabolites were enriched in purine and glutamine metabolism. The AUC values for serum and urine panels were 0.818, and 0.843, respectively. The combined panel exhibited better predictive accuracy (0.881 in discovering group and 0.936 in external validation). In the comparison between type I and type II group, altered folic acid metabolism was identified. The serum, urine and combined panels discriminated these two groups with the AUC of 0.829, 0.913 and 0.922, respectively. Conclusion: The combined urine and serum metabolome effectively revealed the metabolic patterns in EC patients, offering valuable diagnostic models for EC diagnosis and classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intrinsic variability of memristor switching behavior can be used as a natural source of randomness, this variability is valuable for safe applications in hardware, such as the true random number generator (TRNG). However, the speed of TRNG is still be further improved. Here, we propose a reliable Ag/SiNx/n-Si volatile memristor, which exhibits a typical threshold switching device with stable repeat ability and fast switching speed. This volatile-memristor-based TRNG is combined with nonlinear feedback shift register (NFSR) to form a new type of high-speed dual output TRNG. Interestingly, the bit generation rate reaches a high speed of 112 kb/s. In addition, this new TRNG passed all 15 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) randomness tests without post-processing steps, proving its performance as a hardware security application. This work shows that the SiNx-based volatile memristor can realize TRNG and has great potential in hardware network security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuromorphic computing aims to achieve artificial intelligence by mimicking the mechanisms of biological neurons and synapses that make up the human brain. However, the possibility of using one reconfigurable memristor as both artificial neuron and synapse still requires intensive research in detail. In this work, Ag/SrTiO3(STO)/Pt memristor with low operating voltage is manufactured and reconfigurable as both neuron and synapse for neuromorphic computing chip. By modulating the compliance current, two types of resistance switching, volatile and nonvolatile, can be obtained in amorphous STO thin film. This is attributed to the manipulation of the Ag conductive filament. Furthermore, through regulating electrical pulses and designing bionic circuits, the neuronal functions of leaky integrate and fire, as well as synaptic biomimicry with spike-timing-dependent plasticity and paired-pulse facilitation neural regulation, are successfully realized. This study shows that the reconfigurable devices based on STO thin film are promising for the application of neuromorphic computing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attribute-based keyword search (ABKS) supports the access control on the search result based upon fuzzy identity over encrypted data, when the search operation is performed over outsourced encrypted data in cloud. However, almost ABKS schemes trust a single authority to monitor the attribute key for users. In practice, we usually have different entities responsible for monitoring different attribute keys to a user. Thus, it is not realistic to trust a single authority to monitor all attributes keys for ABKS scheme in practical situation. Although a large body of ABKS schemes have been proposed, few works have been done on multi-authority attribute searchable encryption. We propose a multi-authority attribute searchable encryption without central authority in this paper. Comparing previous ABKS schemes, we extend the single-authority ABKS scheme to multi-authority ABKS scheme and remove the central authority in multi-authority ABKS scheme. We analyze our scheme in terms of security and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient air particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) contains many harmful components that can enter the circulatory system and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) in body. Oxidative stress and DNA damage induced by ROS may affect any cellular macromolecule and lead to DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Flavonoids, widely distributed in some herbs and berries, have been proved having anti-oxidative or anti-cancer efficacy. In this study, we investigated whether Flavone, a kind of flavonoids, can protect human bronchial epithelial cells (HBE) from DSBs caused by PM2.5 and how this function is probably implemented. We found that cells exposed to PM2.5 obviously induced viability inhibition, DNA damage and part of apoptosis. However, Flavone treatment prior to PM2.5 apparently improved cell viability, and mitigated the formation of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine, the expression of DNA damage-relative protein and cell apoptosis. Our studies demonstrated that PM2.5 induced oxidative DSBs while Flavone ameliorated the DNA damage and increased cell viability probably through influencing DNA repair mechanism of cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is believed that long-term memory (LTM) cannot be formed immediately because it must go through a protein synthesis-dependent consolidation process. However, the current study uses Drosophila aversive olfactory conditioning to show that such processes are dispensable for context-dependent LTM (cLTM). Single-trial conditioning yields cLTM that is formed immediately in a protein-synthesis independent manner and is sustained over 14 days without decay. Unlike retrieval of traditional LTM, which requires only the conditioned odour and is mediated by mushroom-body neurons, cLTM recall requires both the conditioned odour and reinstatement of the training-environmental context. It is mediated through lateral-horn neurons that connect to multiple sensory brain regions. The cLTM cannot be retrieved if synaptic transmission from any one of these centres is blocked, with effects similar to those of altered encoding context during retrieval. The present study provides strong evidence that long-term memory can be formed easily without the need for consolidation. New protein synthesis is known to be indispensable for the consolidation of long-term memory. Here, the authors report that an olfactory memory can be successfully recalled after 14 days without protein synthesis when the training context is also provided in addition to the conditioned odor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultrafine platinum nanoparticles are grown on a 3D graphene framework (GF–Pt) via a hydrothermal method. The material, when placed on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE), displays enhanced electrocatalytic activity towards glucose oxidation. This is assumed to be the result of the numerous easily accessible active sites, an enlarged electrochemically active area, and the presence of multiple electron/ion transport channels. The modified GCE can be operated at a low potential (− 0.15 V vs. Ag/AgCl) has linear responses in the 0.1 μM − 0.01 mM and 0.01 mM – 20 mM glucose concentration range, and a 30 nM detection limit. It was applied to the rapid determination of glucose in human serum samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matricaria recutita L. has been known as an important medicinal plant for centuries. The main active components are sesquiterpenes. Squalene synthase (SQS) is an enzyme that plays an important role in regulation of isoprenoid biosynthesis. In this study, the full-length cDNA of the M. recutita SQS gene was cloned and analyzed for the first time. The clone, designated MrSQS (Matricaria recutita L. squalene synthase gene), consisted of 1580 bp, including a 1230-bp-coding sequence for a predicted protein of 409 amino acids with 46.8 kDa molecular weight. MrSQS shows higher homology to the SQS from Artemisia annua than to SQSs from other plants based on its amino acid sequence. Recombinant MrSQS, produced in a bacterial expression system, showed squalene synthase activity in vitro. In M. recutita, the expression level of MrSQS is determined by real-time quantitative PCR that was highest in disk florets and lowest in stems. These results provide basis and foundation for the study and development of regulation of valuable products from M. recutita L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]