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Morphing attacks (MAs) pose a substantial security threat to the Automatic Border Control (ABC) system. While a few morphing attack detection (MAD) methods have been proposed, the face morphing accomplice's facial restoration has not received sufficient attention. Due to the inability to foresee the morphing factor used for a particular morphed image, selecting the appropriate de‐morphing factor becomes a challenging problem in the restoration of the accomplice's facial image. If the morphing factor cannot be chosen reasonably, achieving the desired restoration effect is difficult. Therefore, this paper presents an adaptive de‐morphing factor framework (ADFF) architecture for restoring the accomplice's facial image. By exploiting the morphed images stored in the electronic passport system and the real‐time captured criminal's images, ADFF can effectively restore the accomplice's facial image. Experimental results and analysis show that ADFF can significantly reduce the security threats of MAs on ABC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this study, we demonstrate that DDX5 serves as a tumor suppressor in the specific context of tongue cancer, which is contrary to its documented oncogenic role in a vast array of cancers. The high expression of DDX5 in tongue cancer is correlated with a better prognosis in clinical patients. The knockdown of DDX5 promotes, while the overexpression of DDX5 inhibits, tongue cancer proliferation, development, and cisplatin resistance. Moreover, we found that the expression of DDX5 in tongue cancer is associated with immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, the expression of DDX5 is associated with a reduced infiltration of M2 macrophages and an increased infiltration of T cell clusters, which may contribute to anticancer effects in the tumor microenvironment. Our study establishes DDX5 as a valuable prognostic biomarker and an important tumor suppressor in tongue cancer. DEAD-box polypeptide 5 (DDX5), a DEAD-box RNA helicase, is a multifunctional protein that plays important roles in many physiological and pathological processes. Contrary to its documented oncogenic role in a wide array of cancers, we herein demonstrate that DDX5 serves as a tumor suppressor in tongue cancer. The high expression of DDX5 is correlated with better prognosis for clinical tongue cancer patients. DDX5 downregulates the genes associated with tongue cancer progression. The knockdown of DDX5 promotes, while the overexpression of DDX5 inhibits, tongue cancer proliferation, development, and cisplatin resistance. Furthermore, the expression of DDX5 in tongue cancer is associated with immune cell infiltration in the tumor microenvironment. Specifically, the expression of DDX5 is associated with the reduced infiltration of M2 macrophages and increased infiltration of T cell clusters, which may contribute to anticancer effects in the tumor microenvironment. In this study, we establish DDX5 as a valuable prognostic biomarker and an important tumor suppressor in tongue cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Astrocyte-elevated gene-1 (AEG-1) is over-expressed in many cancer cells and has multiple key functions in tumor initiation and progression. Currently, targeted-AEG-1 siRNA is one of the most common techniques to down-regulate AEG-1 expression, but the lack of tumor specificity and available delivery system make it difficult to enter clinical trials. Methods: In this study, we creatively developed an adenovirus-mediated anti-AEG-1 single-chain antibody fragment (ScFv) expression system driven by a tumor specific promoter, and experimented with it in human cervical carcinoma cells to investigate the effect on tumor's proliferation and apoptosis. Results: The results showed that of HeLa and SiHa cells treated with this recombinant anti-AEG-1 ScFv adenovirus not only inhibited cell growth, but induced apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we also observed that the expressions of several apoptosis-related genes like Akt 1 and c-Myc decreased, while NF-κB (p65) and cleaved caspase 3 increased on protein levels in vivo. Conclusion: We concluded that stathmin promoter-driving anti-AEG-1 ScFv adenoviral system may be a breakthrough for its dual-specificity, and serve as an adjuvant tumor specific therapy method in the treatment for human cervical cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy harvesting provides a promising alternative to batteries and mains used by current wireless devices. However, the power supply in energy harvesting communications becomes dynamic due to the random channels. In this work, the authors study two energy harvesting communications protocols, 'harvest‐store‐use' and 'harvest‐use'. A linear harvester is used to collect energy over multiple time slots for the two protocols. The effective throughput for 'harvest‐store‐use' and the average bit error rate for 'harvest‐use' are derived. Numerical results show that there exists an optimum number of time slots for the 'harvest‐store‐use' protocol to balance the transmission probability and the delay and that the effective throughput approaches an upper limit when the number of time slots increases. Also, for the 'harvest‐use' protocol, one should use a small number of time slots to balance the bit error rate performance and the battery consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Several clinical studies have reported the application of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors as treatments for type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). This study aims to review the outcomes of these existing studies and to discuss the therapeutic effects of DPP-4 inhibitors on T1DM. Methods. We thoroughly searched the Medline, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases and ClinicalTrials.gov for studies concerning the use of DPP-4 inhibitors in patients with T1DM. Results. In preclinical trials, DPP-4 inhibitors improved the pathogenesis of T1DM. However, only a portion of the studies showed potential efficacy regarding clinical glycemic control and other clinical parameters. From this meta-analysis, pooled data from 5 randomized controlled trials revealed that the additional use of DPP-4 inhibitors resulted in a greater decrease in glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (0.07%, 95% CI (−0.37%–0.23%)) than insulin monotherapy, although the decrease was not significant. A small decrease in postprandial glucose or insulin consumption was confirmed. Conclusion. Although DPP-4 inhibitors may be beneficial for T1DM, existing studies do not strongly support these positive effects in clinical practice. Further optimized clinical trials are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A continuously stirred methane (CH 4 ) and oxygen (O 2 )-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) was investigated for removing chromium (Cr) from nitrate (NO 3 − )-contaminated drinking water. Cr(VI) at an initial concentration of 100 μg/L was rapidly reduced to Cr(III) with a removal rate of 89% and a hydraulic retention time of 48 h under normal denitrifying conditions in a methane/oxygen-based MBfR. A microbial community analysis indicated that Comamonadaceae, Cytophagaceae, Hyphomicrobiaceae and Alcaligenaceae were effective denitrifiers, Methylophilaceae and Methylococcaceae were functional methanotrophic bacteria, and Comamonadaceae was a kind of Cr(VI) reducers in the reactor. Cr(VI) was reduced to Cr(III), which precipitated and adsorbed onto the biofilm as Cr(OH) 3 , due to the alkaline produced during denitrification. When the CH 4 pressure increased from 0.02 to 0.03 MPa, the Cr(VI) reduction increased by 40.3%, and the NO 3 − reduction increased by 30.2%. Although the effluent Cr(VI) concentration increased with increasing influent loading, the removal efficiency of Cr(VI) reached the highest level of 99.8% under a high daily loading of 5.76 mg/d. Unlike a H 2 -based MBfR, it is possible to remove Cr from water without post-processing, such as precipitation, in a CH 4 /O 2 -based MBfR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming to strike for a balance between the security, efficiency and availability of the data verification in cloud storage, a novel integrity verification scheme based on spatiotemporal chaos is proposed for multiple data copies. Spatiotemporal chaos is implemented for node calculation of the binary tree, and the location of the data in the cloud is verified. Meanwhile, dynamic operation can be made to the data. Furthermore, blind information is used to prevent a third-party auditor (TPA) leakage of the users' data privacy in a public auditing process. Performance analysis and discussion indicate that it is secure and efficient, and it supports dynamic operation and the integrity verification of multiple copies of data. It has a great potential to be implemented in cloud storage services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a form of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic inflammation and excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition. However, the protein changes in fibrotic ECM during PF and their contribution to fibrosis progression are unclear. Here we show that changes in expression of ECM components and ECM remodeling had occurred in silica-instilled mice. The macrophage-derived glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) captured by fibrotic ECM may activate resident normal fibroblasts around the fibrotic foci. Functional experiments demonstrated the activation of fibroblasts in fibrotic ECM, which was alleviated by GPNMB-neutralizing antibodies or macrophage deletion in the ECM of silica-instilled mice. Moreover, the Serpinb2 expression level was increased in fibroblasts in fibrotic ECM, and the expression of CD44 was increased in silica-instilled mice. In conclusion, macrophage-derived GPNMB is trapped by fibrotic ECM during transport and may activate fibroblasts via the CD44/Serpinb2 pathway, thus leading to the further development of fibrosis. Macrophage-derived glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) is trapped by fibrotic extracellular matrix in a pulmonary fibrosis model and may activate resident normal fibroblasts, promoting fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heterogeneity exists inter- and intratumorally, which might lead to different drug responses. Therefore, it is extremely important to clarify the drug response at single-cell resolution. Here, we propose a precise single-cell drug response (scDR) prediction method for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data. We calculated a drug-response score (DRS) for each cell by integrating drug-response genes (DRGs) and gene expression in scRNA-seq data. Then, scDR was validated through internal and external transcriptomics data from bulk RNA-seq and scRNA-seq of cell lines or patient tissues. In addition, scDR could be used to predict prognoses for BLCA, PAAD, and STAD tumor samples. Next, comparison with the existing method using 53,502 cells from 198 cancer cell lines showed the higher accuracy of scDR. Finally, we identified an intrinsic resistant cell subgroup in melanoma, and explored the possible mechanisms, such as cell cycle activation, by applying scDR to time series scRNA-seq data of dabrafenib treatment. Altogether, scDR was a credible method for drug response prediction at single-cell resolution, and helpful in drug resistant mechanism exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of efficient and durable non‐precious hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts for scaling up alkaline water/seawater electrolysis is highly desirable but challenging. Amorphous‐crystalline (A‐C) heterostructures have garnered attention due to their unusual atomic arrangements at hetero‐interfaces, highly exposed active sites, and excellent stability. Here, a heterogeneous synthesis strategy for constructing A‐C non‐homogeneous interfacial centers of electrocatalysts on nanocages is presented. Isolated PdCo clusters on nanoscale islands in conjunction with Co3S4 A‐C, functioning as a bifunctional site "island‐sea" synergy, enable the dynamic confinement design of metal active atoms, resulting in excellent HER catalytic activity and durability. The hierarchical structure of hollow porous nanocages and nanoclusters, along with their large surface area and multi‐dimensional A‐C boundaries and defects, provides the catalyst with abundant active centers. Theoretical calculations demonstrate that the combination of PdCo and Co3S4 regulates the redistribution of interface electrons effectively, promoting the sluggish water‐dissociation kinetics at the cluster Co sites. Additionally, PdCo‐Co3S4 heterostructure nanocages exhibit outstanding HER activity in alkaline seawater and long‐term stability for 100 h, which can be powered by commercial silicon solar cells. This finding significantly advances the development of alkaline seawater electrolysis for large‐scale hydrogen production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at degrading the capability of the existing forensic methods in discriminating computer generated and natural facial images, a bidirectional conversion between computer-generated and natural facial images based on generative adversarial network (BDC-GAN) is proposed for anti-forensics in this paper. The generator of BDC-GAN is composed of noise encoding and content encoding. In the noise encoding, three high-pass filters are first utilized to extract the sensor pattern noise of the image, and then the stacked convolution layer is combined to continue encoding. In the content encoding, VGG-19 is truncated and fine-tuned to encode the content of the image. Some stacked convolution layers and adaptive instance normalization layer are used in the decoder. The discriminator uses multi-scale image discriminator. Furthermore, content loss and noise loss are well designed, and hyperparameters are reasonably set to accomplish the bidirectional conversion between two domain images meanwhile retaining the original facial contour. Experimental results and analysis demonstrate that the proposed anti-forensic method can achieve better visual quality and stronger deception ability compared with the existing unidirectional CG facial image anti-forensic methods and bidirectional domain adaptive methods, and its effectiveness is verified by the tests on the existing 9 forensic methods. It reveals that the existing forensic techniques can be bypassed by using adversarial learning, and it will eventually push the performance improvement of the discrimination of computer generated and natural facial images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glass-ceramics with diopside (CaMgSi 2 O 6) as the main crystalline phase were prepared via low-temperature powder sintering method using waste glass and kaolin as starting materials. The effects of kaolin content and sintering temperature on phase composition, micro-structure and properties of as-prepared glass-ceramics were investigated by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. Research results showed that the addition of kaolin could promote the devitrification of waste glass during sintering. The formation of diopside crystalline phase mainly originated from the decrease of sodium ion contents in glass phase, which was caused by the crystallization of sodium aluminum silicate. Diopside-based glass-ceramics could be achieved under proper combination ratio of waste glass and kaolin, and raising sintering temperature was beneficial to formation of diopside. Glass-ceramics prepared by adding 25 wt% kaolin and sintered at 825 °C for 2 h showed a maximum bending strength of 114.9 MPa and a bulk density of 2.484 g/cm3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at resolving the problem of the irreversibility in some common neural networks for secret data extraction, a novel image steganography framework is proposed based on the generator of GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks) and gradient descent approximation. During data embedding, the secret data is first mapped into a stego noise vector by a specific mapping rule, and it is input into the generator of a GAN to produce a stego image. The data extraction is accomplished by iteratively updating the noise vector using the gradient descent with the generator. When the error is declined within the allowable error, the output image of the generator is approximate to the stego image, and the updated noise vector will also approach to the stego noise vector. Finally, the secret data is extracted from the updated noise vector. Experiments and analysis with WGAN-GP (Wasserstein GAN-Gradient Penalty) show that it can achieve good performance in extraction accuracy, capacity and robustness. Furthermore, the discussions also illustrate its good generalization with different GAN models and image datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracerebroventricular injection and overexpression of Neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) has been shown to induce obesity and glucose metabolism disorder in rodents; however, the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism contributing to glucose metabolic disturbance induced by NPY. Recombinant lentiviral NPY vectors were injected into the PVN of rats fed a high fat (HFD) or low-fat diet. 8 weeks later, in vivo intravenous glucose tolerance tests and euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp revealed that insulin resistance of adipose tissue were induced by NPY overexpression with or without HFD. NPY increased food intake, but did not change blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) or lipid levels. However, NPY decreased the expression of pGSK3β, PI3K p85 and pAKTSer473in adipose tissue of rats. In vitro, 3T3-L1 adipocytes were treated with NPY, NPY Y1 and Y5 receptor antagonists. Glucose consumption and 2-deoxy-D-[3H] glucose uptake were partly inhibited by NPY, while a decrease in PI3K-AKT pathway signaling and a decreased expression of pGSK3α and pGSK3β were observed. Nevertheless, a Y5 receptor antagonist (L-152,804) reversed the effects of NPY on glucose uptake and consumption. These data suggest that long-term over-expression of NPY in PVN contributes to the establishment of adipose tissue insulin resistance, at least partly via the Y5 Receptor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outage probability and bit error rate averaged over the distribution of the number of relays in Nakagami- $m$ fading channels are analyzed for full and partial relay selection (RS) schemes. This analysis considers a random number of relays caused by the relay's own on–off traffic. Based on this analysis, optimization of the relaying time is performed, and the optimal values of the relaying time are obtained. Numerical results show that there do exist locally optimal values of the relaying time for different system settings. For average outage probability, the optimal value increases when the threshold increases, the $m$ parameters decrease, or partial selection is used instead of full selection. For an average bit error rate, the optimal value increases when the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) decreases, the $m$ parameters decrease, the number of relays increases, or partial selection is used instead of full selection. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aiming to reduce the distortion in the existing reversible watermarking for 3D mesh models, this paper generalizes two-dimensional (2D) region nesting to ${n}$ -dimensional space, and proposes a general region nesting based semi-fragile reversible watermarking for authenticating 3D mesh models by combing watermark generation based on vertex projection and mesh topology. For any ${n}$ -dimensional space, each hypercube space is partitioned into several nested watermark sub-spaces, and the watermark is embedded by placing the original vertex and the mapped vertex on a straight line. The watermark is extracted by acquiring the position of the vertices, and its original coordinates can be restored by inverse mapping. Furthermore, a new coordinate system is built for 3D mesh models based on reference vertices to achieve semi-fragility, and the watermarks generated by vertex projection and mesh topology is utilized for integrity authentication. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme can significantly reduce the distortion, achieve semi-fragility in RST (Rotation, Scaling and Translation) and vertex reordering, identify the tampering type, and accomplish tampering location at vertex level. It has great potential to be applied for content authentication of 3D mesh models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete mineralization of para-chlorophenol (4-CP), a toxic xenobiotic compound, is challenging for water treatment due to the high energy use of destructive methods. Herein a sustainable hydrogen (H 2)-based membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) is presented in treating 4-CP and NO 3 -. With the increase of 4-CP surface loading, this technology can achieve continuous depletion (> 99%) of up to 100 mg/L 4-CP and 10 mg-N/L NO 3 - with minimal intermediates accumulation. The function of H 2 , the controlling parameter in the H 2 -MBfR, was examined in degrading 4-CP and NO 3 -. H 2 served as the electron donor in fueling the denitrification and dechlorination process. Activated by H 2 , 4-CP can fulfill the 'loop-closing degradation' mediated by the heterotrophic bacteria: the products of 4-CP, served as electron donors, which refuel 4-CP degradation. In addition, H 2 created an anaerobic condition for the biofilm, and in turn, shifted the microbial community and the possible degradation pathways of 4-CP. The absence of H 2 induced the main functional bacteria changed from anaerobic bacteria Thauera to aerobic bacteria Xanthobacter , and further enhanced the genes encoding the enzymes responsible for oxidative dechlorination and aerobic activation of phenol. With no soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) accumulated at the steady state, this technology provides promising visions into complete bioremediation of water containing 4-CP and NO 3 - with no residues. • Parachlorophenol (4-CP) can realize 'loop-closing degradation'. • Complete dechlorination and mineralization of 4-CP without the residual sCOD. • H 2 shifted the microbial community. • Phenol was mineralized to CO 2 through aerobic and/or anaerobic activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mammalian oogenesis features reliance on the mRNAs produced and stored during early growth phase. These are essential for producing an oocyte competent to undergo meiotic maturation and embryogenesis later when oocytes are transcriptionally silent. The fate of maternal mRNAs hence ensures the success of oogenesis and the quality of the resulting eggs. Nevertheless, how the fate of maternal mRNAs is determined remains largely elusive. RNA‐binding proteins (RBPs) are crucial regulators of oogenesis, yet the identity of the full complement of RBPs expressed in oocytes is unknown. Here, a global view of oocyte‐expressed RBPs is presented: mRNA‐interactome capture identifies 1396 RBPs in mouse oocytes. An analysis of one of these RBPs, LSM family member 14 (LSM14B), demonstrates that this RBP is specific to oocytes and associated with many networks essential for oogenesis. Deletion of Lsm14b results in female‐specific infertility and a phenotype characterized by oocytes incompetent to complete meiosis and early embryogenesis. LSM14B serves as an interaction hub for proteins and mRNAs throughout oocyte development and regulates translation of a subset of its bound mRNAs. Therefore, RNP complexes tethered by LSM14B are found exclusively in oocytes and are essential for the control of maternal mRNA fate and oocyte development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite advances in our understanding of low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs), the fundamental details about the mechanisms of radiation and flare/outburst in hot accretion flow are still largely missing. We have systematically analysed the archival Chandra and NuSTAR X-ray data of the nearby LLAGN M81*, whose L bol ∼ 10−5 L Edd. Through a detailed study of X-ray light curve and spectral properties, we find that the X-ray continuum emission of the power-law shape more likely originates from inverse Compton scattering within the hot accretion flow. In contrast to Sgr A*, flares are rare in M81*. Low-amplitude variation can only be observed in soft X-ray band (amplitude usually ≲2). Several simple models are tested, including sinusoidal-like and quasi-periodical. Based on a comparison of the dramatic differences of flare properties among Sgr A*, M31*, and M81*, we find that, when the differences in both the accretion rate and the black hole mass are considered, the flares in LLAGNs can be understood universally in a magnetohydrodynamical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, there are some problems in the reliability analysis method for gear transmission system of aeronautical turbine starter, such as low accuracy of finite element model, low efficiency of analysis and low accuracy of analysis results. To this end, a reliability analysis method for the gear transmission system of aeronautical turbine starter under multi-constraint is presented. A 3-D model of the gear pair of aeronautical turbine starter is constructed in UG. The model is input into the finite element software for meshing. The gear transmission of aeronautical turbine starter under working conditions is simulated by defining boundary conditions and applying loads, which provides a basis for reliability analysis of gear transmission system of aeronautical turbine starter. The reliability of the gear transmission system of the aeronautical turbine starter is evaluated by the comprehensive evaluation method, and the reliability of the system is evaluated by the contact of the evaluation results. According to the evaluation results, the reliability analysis of the gear transmission system of the aeronautical turbine starter is realized under the condition of multi-constraint. The experimental results show that the proposed method has high analysis efficiency and high analysis accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A series of novel berberine analogs were synthesized, and evaluated for their p300 inhibitory activity. • Structure-activity relationship studies yielded a more potent compound 5d. • Compound 5d specifically decreases H3K18Ac and interferes with the function of histone acetyltransferase. • Compound 5d exhibited good antitumor effects in MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro and in vivo. The protein p300 is a positive regulator of cancer progression and is related to many human pathological conditions. To find effective p300/CBP HAT inhibitors, we screened an internal compound library and identified berberine as a lead compound. Next, we designed, synthesized, and screened a series of novel berberine analogs, and discovered that analog 5d was a potent and highly selective p300/CBP HAT inhibitor with IC 50 values of 0.070 μM and 1.755 μM for p300 and CBP, respectively. Western blotting further proved that 5d specifically decreased H3K18Ac and interfere with the function of histone acetyltransferase. Although 5d had only a moderate inhibitory effect on the MDA-MB-231 cell line, 5d suppressed the growth of 4T1 tumor growth in mice with a tumor weight inhibition ratio (TWI) of 39.7%. Further, liposomes-encapsulated 5d increased its inhibition of tumor growth to 57.8 % TWI. In addition, 5d has no obvious toxicity to the main organ of mice and the pharmacokinetic study confirmed that 5d has good absorption properties in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of 3-D printing and reverse engineering, the protection of intellectual property of 3-D printed objects is becoming a prominent problem. In order to authenticate 3-D printed objects, an authentication scheme based on printing noise and digital signature is proposed. First, the noises introduced in the 3-D printing and observation are investigated. Thereafter, a special authentication mark is designed for extracting the printing noise. Based on this, a 3-D printed object authentication framework is built and it is composed of two processes—registration and verification. In the registration, the printing noise of the authentication mark is extracted and signed by digital signature. While in the verification, the signature is verified and then the printing noise of the authentication mark is extracted. After that, the extracted printing noise is matched with the one acquired in the registration. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme can reliably accomplish the authentication of the 3-D printed object with high precision and that it can achieve high security and good robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Thyrotropin-secreting pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) are rare pituitary adenomas that are occasionally accompanied by hypersecretion of other anterior pituitary hormones, such as growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PRL). The clinical, biochemical, and pathological characteristics may represent diverse circumstances. Case presentation: In this report, a 33-year-old female diagnosed with a TSH PitNET co-secreting GH presented no obvious clinical symptoms. The main characteristics were elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), free tri-iodothyronine (FT3), and free thyroxine (FT4) levels accompanied by slightly elevated GH and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detected a pituitary macroadenoma (18 × 16 × 16 mm) with cavernous sinus and suprasellar invasion. Immunohistochemistry revealed diffuse positivity for TSH, strong immunoreactivity for GH, and sporadic positivity for PRL. The electron microscope and double immunofluorescence staining confirmed a plurimorphous plurihormonal adenoma producing TSH, GH, and PRL. After preoperative somatostatin receptor ligand (SRL) treatment and transsphenoidal surgery, the patient achieved temporary clinical and biochemical remission. However, 3 months after surgery, the patient was suspected of having Hashimoto's thyroiditis due to higher thyroglobulin antibody (TGAb), thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb), and thyroid receptor antibody (TRAb) and an enlarged thyroid nodule. During follow-up, thyroid function and TSH slowly transformed from transient hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism. They were maintained in the normal range by L-T4. Conclusion: In the TSH PitNET, the positive immunohistochemistry for TSH, GH, and PRL translated into hormonal overproduction with TSH and GH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young stellar clusters are believed to inherit the spatial distribution like hierarchical structures of their natal molecular cloud during their formation. However, the change of the structures between the cloud and the young clusters is not well constrained observationally. We select the W40–Serpens South region (∼7 × 9 pc2) of the Aquila Rift as a testbed and investigate hierarchical properties of spatial distribution of young stellar objects (YSOs) in this region. We develop a minimum spanning tree (MST) based method to group stars into several levels by successively cutting down edges longer than an algorithmically determined critical value. A total of 832 YSOs are divided into 5 levels with 23 groups. For describing the hierarchical properties in a controlled way, we construct a set of synthetic source distributions at various fractal dimensions, and apply the same method to explore their group characters. By comparing the Q parameter and the surface density profiles of the observed and the synthetic data, we find that the YSO observation matches spatial patterns from multifractal dimensions. In the periphery region where the molecular clouds are more diffuse, the YSO structure is close to a fractal dimension of 2.0. While in the core regions, the fractal dimensions are close to 1.6 and 1.4 for the W40 and the Serpens South regions, respectively. Therefore, the YSOs may inherit the fractal pattern of the dense part of the molecular clouds, but such pattern dissipates slowly in several Myr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active star-forming regions are excellent laboratories for studying the origins and evolution of young stellar object (YSO) clustering. The W40–Serpens South region is such a region, and we compile a large near- and mid-infrared catalogue of point sources in it, based on deep near-infrared observations of Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) in combination with Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS), and Spitzer catalogues. From this catalogue, we identify 832 YSOs, and classify 15, 135, 647, and 35 of them to be deeply embedded sources, Class I YSOs, Class II YSOs, and transition disc sources, respectively. In general, these YSOs are well correlated with the filamentary structures of molecular clouds, especially the deeply embedded sources and the Class I YSOs. The W40 central region is dominated by Class II YSOs, but in the Serpens South region, half of the YSOs are Class I. We further generate a minimum spanning tree (MST) for all the YSOs. Around the W40 cluster, there are eight prominent MST branches that may trace the vestigial molecular gas filaments that once fed gas to the central natal gas clump. Of the eight, only two now include detectable filamentary gas in Herschel data and corresponding Class I YSOs, while the other six are populated exclusively with Class II YSOs. Four MST branches overlap with the Serpens South main filament, and where they intersect, molecular gas 'hubs' and more Class I YSOs are found. Our results imply a mixture of YSO distributions composed of both primordial and somewhat evolved YSOs in this star-forming region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levulinic esters, synthesized by the esterification of biomass-derived levulinic acid with various alcohols, is an important chemical that plays an essential role in the fields of biomass fuel additives, organic synthesis, and high value-added products. In the present work, the catalytic esterification of levulinic acid with n-butyl alcohol was selected as a typical model reaction to investigate the catalytic performance of an inexpensive commercial catalyst, titanium oxide nanoparticles. The influences of reaction time, reaction temperature, and catalyst loading on the conversion of levulinic acid to n-butyl levulinate were systematically examined through single-factor experiments. Additionally, the optimization of the reaction conditions was further investigated by a Box–Behnken design in response to the surface methodology. The desired product, n-butyl levulinate, with a good yield (77.6%) was achieved under the optimal conditions (reaction time of 8 h, reaction temperature of 120 °C, and catalyst dosage of 8.6 wt.%) when using titanium oxide nanoparticles as catalysts. Furthermore, it was found that addition of water to the catalytic system facilitated the reaction process, to some extent. This study reveals that the nanosized TiO2 material, as an efficient solid acid catalyst, had good catalytic performance and stability for the esterification of levulinic acid after six consecutive uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the type 1 transmembrane glycoprotein B7‐H3 is controversial in tumorigenesis; thus, a better clarification of its involvement in cancer is crucial. In the present study, 79.3% of cervical cancer samples were found to be B7‐H3 positive and the expression of B7‐H3 was positively correlated with the clinical features of the samples. Silencing B7‐H3 using small interfering RNA or blocking it with intracellular ScFv attenuated the malignancy of HeLa cells. By pull‐down assay and liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry in HeLa cells, the glycolytic enzyme ENO1 was found to interact with B7‐H3. Subsequently, the involvement of B7‐H3 in glycolysis was investigated. We observed decreases in the levels of ATP and lactate, as well as c‐Myc and lactate dehydrogenase A, upon B7‐H3 downregulation in HeLa cells. The results of the present study provide evidence for B7‐H3 mediating tumor glycolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Targeted therapies have been proven as promising in the treatment of breast cancer and have improved survival and quality of life in advanced breast cancer. We previously identified a novel peptide SA12 which showed significant activity in the inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in SKBr-3 cells. Methods: The present study investigated the potential antitumor role of SA12 in breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 through Cell Counting Kit-8 assay and colony formation assay, and examined the cell cycle distribution using flow cytometry analysis. Furthermore, the expression of cell cycle-related genes cyclin D1, CDK4, and tumor suppressor gene p16 were examined by real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot to explore the molecular mechanism. Results: We determined that peptide SA12 suppressed the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines through the G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest. Moreover, the expressions of cell cycle-associated genes cyclin D1 and CDK4 were downregulated and the expression of tumor suppressor gene p16 was upregulated after treatment with SA12. MECP2 was required for the enhanced expression of p16 gene induced by SA12, which further inhibits CDK4/CDK6 activation and arrests the cell cycle progression from G0/G1 to S phase. Conclusion: We concluded that SA-12 inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells through G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Cell cycle related genes cyclin D1, CDK4, and p16 participate in the process, and MECP2 is essential for the enhanced expression of p16 gene induced by SA-12. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pathway enrichment analysis (PEA) is a common method for exploring functions of hundreds of genes and identifying disease-risk pathways. Moreover, different pathways exert their functions through crosstalk. However, existing PEA methods do not sufficiently integrate essential pathway features, including pathway crosstalk, molecular interactions, and network topologies, resulting in many risk pathways that remain uninvestigated. Methods: To overcome these limitations, we develop a new crosstalk-based PEA method, CTpathway, based on a global pathway crosstalk map (GPCM) with >440,000 edges by combing pathways from eight resources, transcription factor-gene regulations, and large-scale protein-protein interactions. Integrating gene differential expression and crosstalk effects in GPCM, we assign a risk score to genes in the GPCM and identify risk pathways enriched with the risk genes. Results: Analysis of >8300 expression profiles covering ten cancer tissues and blood samples indicates that CTpathway outperforms the current state-of-the-art methods in identifying risk pathways with higher accuracy, reproducibility, and speed. CTpathway recapitulates known risk pathways and exclusively identifies several previously unreported critical pathways for individual cancer types. CTpathway also outperforms other methods in identifying risk pathways across all cancer stages, including early-stage cancer with a small number of differentially expressed genes. Moreover, the robust design of CTpathway enables researchers to analyze both bulk and single-cell RNA-seq profiles to predict both cancer tissue and cell type-specific risk pathways with higher accuracy. Conclusions: Collectively, CTpathway is a fast, accurate, and stable pathway enrichment analysis method for cancer research that can be used to identify cancer risk pathways. The CTpathway interactive web server can be accessed here http://www.jianglab.cn/CTpathway/. The stand-alone program can be accessed here https://github.com/Bioccjw/CTpathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Magnetic biochar enhanced SCFAs production efficiency during FW fermentation. • Magnetic biochar accelerated interfacial and microbial electron transfers. • Magnetic biochar enriched acid-forming bacteria associated with electroactivity. • Magnetic biochar enhanced SCFAs biosynthesis through electron transfer networks. Electron transfer is vital for microbial communities in anaerobic fermentation systems for food waste treatment. Considerable endeavors highlight the importance of interspecific electron transfer between acid-producing bacteria and methanogenic archaea. However, the contribution of electron transfer network from intracellular to extracellular in these microbes with conducive materials is unclear, and deserves more attention. This work demonstrated that magnetic biochar (as a typical conducive material) could enhance interfacial, extracellular and intracellular electron transfer networks during food waste fermentation, resulting in the improved production of short-chain fatty acids, accompanied by synchronous enhancements in solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidification steps. Further study revealed that magnetic biochar exhibited large surface area (28.5 m2/g) and high conductivity (97.6 μS/cm) with low charge transfer resistance and high catalytic activity, resulting in enriching acid-forming bacteria associated with electroactivity (e.g., Clostridium , Parabacteroides , and Fonticella). Also, magnetic biochar up-regulated the gene expressions involved in extracellular electron transfer, including membrane proteins (e.g., MtrA and MtrB) and conductive flagella (especially type IV pilus, e.g., PilA , PilB , and PilC), and intracellular electron transfer, particularly in the central pathway TCA cycle (e.g., acnA and sucA). In response to the evident stimulation of electron transfer networks (electron transport system activity increased by 204.1 % compared with the control), the critical gene expressions involved in fatty acid biosynthesis, requiring sufficient electrons and energy, were corresponding up-regulated (e.g., accA , accC , and accD), resulting in the promotion of short-chain fatty acids generation. This work would improve the in-depth understanding of electron transfer impacts on anaerobic systems and provide useful guidance for FW disposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Diaphanous related formin 1 (DIAPH1) is a novel component of advanced glycation end product (AGE) signal transduction that was recently found to participate in diabetes-related disorders, obesity, and androgen hormones. We investigated whether plasma DIAPH1 levels were a potential prognostic predictor for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods. The levels of circulating plasma DIAPH1 and indicators of glucose, insulin, lipid metabolism, liver enzymes, kidney function, sex hormones, and inflammation were measured in 75 patients with PCOS and 77 healthy participants. All of the participants were divided into normal-weight (NW) and overweight/obese (OW) subgroups. Statistical analyses were performed with R studio. Results. PCOS patients manifested hyperandrogenism, increased luteinizing hormone/follicle-stimulating hormone (LH/FSH), and accumulated body fat and insulin resistance. Plasma DIAPH1 levels were significantly decreased in women with PCOS compared to control participants, and DIAPH1 levels were distinctly reduced in OW PCOS compared to OW control subjects (P < 0.001). DIAPH1 levels correlated with fasting blood glucose (FBG), total cholesterol (TC), the homeostasis model assessment of β-cell function (HOMA-β), and LH/FSH in all participants (FBG: r = 0.351 , P < 0.0001 ; TC: r = 0.178 , P = 0.029 ; HOMA-β: r = − 0.211 , P = 0.009 ; LH/FSH: r = − 0.172 , P = 0.040). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that plasma DIAPH1 levels were an independent risk factor for PCOS. A model containing DIAPH1, BMI, FBG, and testosterone was constructed to predict the risk of PCOS, with a sensitivity of 92.0% and a specificity of 80.9%. A nomogram was constructed to facilitate clinical diagnosis. Conclusions. These findings suggest the association of plasma DIAPH1 with glucose metabolism, insulin resistance, and sex hormones and support DIAPH1 as a potential predictive factor for PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a systematic study of the pure deflagration model of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using three-dimensional, high-resolution, full-star hydrodynamical simulations, nucleosynthetic yields calculated using Lagrangian tracer particles, and light curves calculated using radiation transport. We evaluate the simulations by comparing their predicted light curves with many observed SNe Ia using the SALT2 data-driven model and find that the simulations may correspond to under-luminous SNe Iax. We explore the effects of the initial conditions on our results by varying the number of randomly selected ignition points from 63 to 3500, and the radius of the centered sphere they are confined in from 128 to 384 km. We find that the rate of nuclear burning depends on the number of ignition points at early times, the density of ignition points at intermediate times, and the radius of the confining sphere at late times. The results depend primarily on the number of ignition points, but we do not expect this to be the case in general. The simulations with few ignition points release more nuclear energy Enuc, have larger kinetic energies EK, and produce more 56Ni than those with many ignition points, and differ in the distribution of 56Ni, Si, and C/O in the ejecta. For these reasons, the simulations with few ignition points exhibit higher peak B-band absolute magnitudes MB and light curves that rise and decline more quickly; their MB and light curves resemble those of under-luminous SNe Iax, while those for simulations with many ignition points are not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the coordination and complementarity of multiple energy sources, balancing the interests of different participants in a multi-energy system is of great importance. However, traditional centralized optimization can hardly reflect the game relationship between supply side and demand sides. A trading model based on the Stackelberg game model is proposed in this paper to balance the interests of the supply side and demand side and reduce the carbon emissions. First of all, the process of trading between the supply side and demand side based on smart contracts is described. A contractual consensus is obtained through an internal game, and the transaction is completed automatically. Secondly, a bilevel optimization model is established to coordinate the benefits of both parties based on the Stackelberg game model. The energy operator acts as a leader, and considers the two objectives, i.e., maximizing net income and minimizing carbon emissions, and uses the linear weighting method to convert the dual objectives into single objective. Users act as followers and aim to increase the comprehensive benefits, including energy cost and comfort. Then, Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality condition is used to transform the bilevel optimization model into an equivalent single-level model. Finally, simulation results show that the proposed method can coordinate the economic interests of both sides of supply and demand and effectively reduce the carbon emissions of the energy operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cerium‐doped yttrium aluminum garnets (Y3‐xCexAl5O12, Ce:YAGs) are promising yellow light‐emitting components of solid‐state white light‐emitting diodes. Although there have been numerous studies examining the effects of Ce concentrations on the luminescent properties of Y3‐xCexAl5O12, the impacts of Ce dopant on the elastic and thermodynamic properties are not well understood. In this work, we used resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) to determine the effects of Ce doping (0.025, 0.1, 1 at. %) on the elastic and thermodynamic properties of Y3‐xCexAl5O12. The elastic moduli calculated via the Voigt–Reuss–Hill (VRH) method demonstrated that low Ce dopant concentrations (≤0.1 at. %) induced negligible effects on the elasticity of the YAG host matrix, while a high Ce concentration (1 at. %) yielded significant softening. RUS spectral analysis and SEM images suggested that the elastic softening originated from microstructural differences induced at higher Ce dopant concentrations. In addition, we demonstrated an increase in elastic anisotropy at higher Ce concentrations, which further elucidated the correlations between structure and elasticity of Y3‐xCexAl5O12. Debye temperatures (θD), heat capacities (Cp), and thermal conductivities (κ) were calculated for Ce:YAGs through the relations of RUS‐derived parameters (sound velocities, elastic moduli) and previously determined thermal expansion coefficients. Ce:YAG was found to have a significant reduction in θD, Cp, and κ at Ce concentrations ≥1 at. %. Lastly, extrapolation of Cp and κ to higher temperatures allowed the modeling of thermal stress experienced by Y3‐xCexAl5O12 disks up to 1073.15 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of an amplify-and-forward (AF) relaying system is analyzed in Nakagami- m fading channels when the links are correlated and each node has a single antenna. Blind fixed-gain relaying, semiblind fixed-gain relaying, and variable-gain relaying schemes are considered. Exact expressions for the moment-generating functions in different cases are derived for integer values of the Nakagami-m parameter when the correlated links have the same Nakagami-m parameters. Numerical results show that the link correlation has a considerable effect on blind and semiblind fixed-gain relaying when the source-to-destination and source-to-relay links are correlated, whereas for variable-gain relaying, it has a considerable effect when the source-to-destination and source-to-relay links are correlated or when the relay-to-destination and source-to-destination links are correlated. Moreover, the effect of correlation is often noticeable when the correlation coefficient is larger than 0.5. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents research report on methyl-CpG–binding domain 2 (MBD2) serves as a viable target against pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting macrophage M2 program. Topics includes patients develop Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) with identifiable triggers such as systemic sclerosis–associated interstitial lung disease; and macrophages are crucially important sentinels integral to host pulmonary defense characterized by their plasticity and diversity.

Abstract: We performed 2D and full 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of disk accretion to a rotating star with an aligned or misaligned dipole magnetic field. We investigated the rotational equilibrium state and derived from simulations the ratio between two main frequencies: the spin frequency of the star and the orbital frequency at the inner radius of the disk. In 3D simulations we observed different features related to the non-axisymmetry of the magnetospheric flow. These features may be responsible for high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs). Variability at much lower frequencies may be connected with restructuring of the magnetic flux threading the inner regions of the disk. Such variability is specifically strong at the propeller stage of evolution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To accomplish robust watermark extraction in reversible watermarking both in plaintext domain and encrypted domain, a separable robust reversible watermarking in encrypted 2D vector graphics is proposed in this paper. Firstly, a content owner uses a key to scramble the polar angles of the vertices to encrypt the graphics in the polar coordinate system. Consequently, a watermark embedder maps the encoded watermark segments to different vertices under the control of an embedding key and an HMAC (hash-based message authentication code) function. After that, the polar angle of the vertex is slightly adjusted to embed a watermark. Since the decryption operation does not affect the embedded watermark, the watermark can be extracted both in the plaintext and encrypted domain. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme can achieve good invisibility and reversibility. It can effectively resist normal operations such as rotation, scaling, translation (RST) and entity reordering, and it has good robustness against malicious attacks such as vertices/entities addition, deletion and modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing selective encryption (SE) schemes for H.265/HEVC has been attracted much attention with the advent of H.265/HEVC codec in the past two decades. However, the most SE algorithms for H.265/HEVC encrypt the syntax elements in the bypass mode to keep the bit rate. Moreover, the edge region of the video data is not sufficiently protected. To produce large visual distortion and edge loss, a tunable SE scheme for H.265/HEVC based on the chroma intra prediction mode (IPM) and coefficient scrambling is proposed. First, a pseudo-random number sequence is generated by AES-CTR. Then, the prediction, residual, and reconstruction information in the H.265/HEVC encoding process is encrypted by a pseudo-random sequence. It encrypts the syntax elements of context-based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) in the bypass mode. Some syntax elements, including chroma IPM in the regular mode, are encrypted as well. To further protect the edge information, a coefficient scrambling is adopted. The edge information of each frame is extracted and the transform units (TUs) are classified according to it. Then, the coefficients of the TUs containing edge are scrambled. Finally, a sign used for marking the type of each TU is embedded into a coefficient. The experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme has better visual distortion and subjective evaluation results compared with some existing H.265/HEVC SE algorithms. Meanwhile, users can flexibly use the proposed SE scheme according to encryption performance and bit rate requirements, which is attractive in the scenario of protecting video in cloud servers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Hyperoside, a flavonoid isolated from conventional medicinal herbs, has been demonstrated to exert a significant protective effect in diabetic nephropathy. This study aimed to determine the underlying mechanisms, by which hyperoside inhibits high glucose-(HG-) induced proliferation in mouse renal mesangial cells. Methods. Mouse glomerular mesangial cells line (SV40-MES13) was used to study the inhibitory effect of hyperoside on cell proliferation induced by 30 mM glucose, which was used to simulate a diabetic condition. Viable cell count was assessed using the Cell Counting Kit-8 and by the 5-ethynyl-20-deoxyuridine incorporation assay. The underlying mechanism involving miRNA-34a was further investigated by quantitative RT-PCR and transfection with miRNA-34a agomir. The phosphorylation levels of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) and cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) were measured by Western blotting. The binding region and the critical binding sites of CREB in the miRNA-34a promoter were investigated by the chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and luciferase reporter assay, respectively. Results. We found that hyperoside could significantly decrease HG-induced proliferation of SV40-MES13 cells in a dose-dependent manner, without causing obvious cell death. In addition, hyperoside inhibited the activation of ERK pathway and phosphorylation of its downstream transcriptional factor CREB, as well as the miRNA-34a expression. We further confirmed that CREB-mediated regulation of miRNA-34a is dependent on the direct binding to specific sites in the promoter region of miRNA-34a. Conclusion. Our cumulative results suggested that hyperoside inhibits the proliferation of SV40-MES13 cells through the suppression of the ERK/CREB/miRNA-34a signaling pathway, which provides new insight to the current investigation on therapeutic strategies for diabetic nephropathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the robustness and imperceptibility of the existing coverless image information hiding, a generative coverless image information hiding algorithm based on fractal theory is proposed in this paper. Firstly, four fractal image generation methods are analyzed, and the relationship between the coverless information hiding and these methods is discussed. Secondly, based on the fractal image generation algorithm, secret information is hidden by controlling pixel rendering during the generation process. The robustness, imperceptibility, and capability of resisting steganalysis are balanced by adjusting the rendering distance. As it directly generates stego images, this can resist the detection of most existing steganalysis methods. Meanwhile, different capacities can be achieved by adjusting the size of the generated image. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme can effectively resist steganalysis and has good robustness against various image attacks. Furthermore, it can achieve large capacity, and it has broad prospects for covert communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Catechol is one of the central intermediates in the aerobic biodegradation of numerous benzene-based aromatic contaminants derived from coal and petroleum sources as a result of unsustainable production processes. In O 2 -limiting environments, such as aquifers and sediments, accumulation of dead-end and inhibitory catechol can lead to a complete shutdown of further biodegradation. Thus, O 2 -independent catechol biotransformation plays an essential role in biodegrading aromatic contaminants in anoxic zones. In this study, we investigated redox processes and microbial community change during anaerobic catechol biodegradation coupled to nitrate and sulfate reductions by a sediment consortium. Denitrifiers and sulfate-reducing bacteria initially oxidized soluble non-catechol organics present in the sediments as electron donors to drive denitrification and sulfate reduction, respectively. Once the non-catechol organics were depleted, catechol was activated by denitrifiers capable of benzoyl-CoA metabolism. Subsequent ring cleavage and mineralization produced electrons and energy that could be coupled by denitrifiers and sulfate reducers to nitrate and sulfate reduction to N 2 and sulfide, respectively. When nitrate and sulfate coexisted, accumulation of sulfide stimulated sulfide oxidizers to growth via sulfide oxidation coupled to nitrate reduction to ammonium and nitrite. The resulting buildup of nitrite triggered abiotic conversion of catechol to a significantly less bioavailable form, probably 1,2-benzoquinone, that eventually blocked the biological process of catechol mineralization. This study documents the interactions of the several anaerobic microbial groups during catechol biodegradation with multiple endogenous electron acceptors and provides baseline for sustainable in-situ bioremediation of aromatic-contaminated environments. Image 1 • Anaerobic catechol scavenge is crucial for complete aromatic degradation in O 2 -limiting zones. • Catechol activation was initiated after the majority of non-catechol organics were depleted. • Catechol was activated by denitrifiers capable of benzoyl-CoA metabolism. • Catechol and other sCOD breakdown produced electrons for denitrification and SO 4 2− reduction. • NO 3 − accumulation during SOB-enabled DNRA abiotically blocked catechol biodegradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asprosin is a white adipose tissue-derived hormone that increases abnormally in mammals with insulin resistance. However, the role of asprosin in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a disease partly characterized by insulin resistance, and its potential connection with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and PCOS has not been thoroughly elucidated to date. To investigate the association of asprosin with metabolic profiles, sex-related hormones, or inflammation in females with T2DM or PCOS, plasma asprosin and metabolic indicators were measured in 66 healthy females, 53 female patients with T2DM, and 41 patients with PCOS. Spearman’s correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis models were used. Plasma asprosin was significantly higher in T2DM females than in healthy subjects (P<0.001) and was positively correlated with fasting blood glucose (FBG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and HOMA-IR (P<0.05). Asprosin in PCOS subjects was also higher than in healthy subjects (P<0.001) but lower than in T2DM subjects (P<0.05), and it was positively correlated with FBG, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, LDL-c, APOB, APOE, and testosterone (P<0.05). The BMI-categorized subgroups of PCOS subjects also showed correlations of asprosin with metabolic profiles and sex-related hormones. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that plasma asprosin level acted as an independent risk factor for T2DM or PCOS. These findings suggest the correlation of plasma asprosin level with glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, sex-related hormones, and inflammation in females, supporting asprosin as a potential predictive factor for females with metabolic-related diseases. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-ROC-17010719. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of 13X zeolites with bentonite or kaolin binders. • Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) method used with LAMMPS. • Adsorption capacity and mechanical strength for 15 to 40 wt% binder. • Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) measurements for free volume. • Binders affect the zeolite composition differently. There is growing interest in developing zeolites with novel internal structures that have optimal adsorptive capacity and high mechanical strength, while offering advantages, such as being light weight. We integrate computational and experimental methods to explore the effect of binder/zeolite types, and weight percentages on the mechanical strength of 13X zeolite and adsorption capacities of N 2 , H 2 O, and CO 2 for additive manufacturing (AM) applications with the goal of maximizing both adsorption and strength. Zeolite 13X mixtures and phyllosilicate binders (either bentonite or kaolin) are combined using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to create structures with various binder/zeolite weight percentages. Adsorption capabilities and mechanical strength are assessed using the grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) and ReaxFF modules, respectively. Our modeling shows that an optimized zeolite/binder ratio for N 2 adsorption is around 15 wt% for kaolin and roughly 10 wt% for bentonite. The resulting parameters can be applied to facilitate macro-scale computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element method (FEM) simulations of an AM zeolite structure. We also performed Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy (PALS) measurements on zeolite samples to explore the effect of changes in the internal volume. The results show an inverse relationship between the free volume and the solid loading. Adding a binder changes the morphology of the zeolite-binder compound and decreases open-volume area significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of simultaneous microbial-driven and Pd-catalyzed nitrate (NO 3 − ) reduction was evaluated in terms of NO 3 − -removal efficiency and reduction-product selectivity. Experiments were conducted in three identical H 2 -based membrane biofilm reactors (MBfR) operated in parallel: biogenic Pd nanoparticles (PdNPs) associated with biofilm (“Pd-biofilm”), biofilm alone (“Biofilm”), and abiotic PdNPs alone (“Pd-film”). Solid-state characterizations confirmed that the PdNPs in Pd-biofilm were dominated by Pd 0 nanocrystallites similar to those in Pd-film, and molecular microbiological analyses confirm that the microbial community in Pd-biofilm were dominated by β-proteobacteria with denitrifying activity similar to Biofilm. Pd-biofilm accelerated NO 3 − reduction to NO 2 − mainly through enzymatic activity and accelerated subsequent NO 2 − reduction mainly through PdNP catalysis. When H 2 could be delivered at a rate approximately equal to the total demand to reduce NO 3 − to N 2 , active biofilm reduced NO 3 − /NO 2 − exclusively to N 2 , and it also attenuated NH 4 + formation; as a result, the overall selectivity towards N 2 in Pd-biofilm was nearly 100% and higher than in Pd-film. Thus, coupling PdNP catalysis and microbial denitrification promoted H 2 -based NO 3 − reduction and led to greater selectivity towards N 2 as long as H 2 delivery was controlled. From a practical perspective, delivering H 2 by diffusion through bubbleless membranes enabled accurate control of N selectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: CD73 has both enzymatic and non-enzymatic functions in cells. As a nucleotidase, CD73 plays its enzymatic function by catalyzing the hydrolysis of AMP into adenosine and phosphate. In addition to this, accumulating data have shown that CD73 is a key regulatory molecule involved in cancer growth and metastasis, but this non-enzymatic function of CD73 in cervical cancer cells has not been well studied.Methods: CD73 was overexpressed by pcDNA-NT5E expression vector transfection in Hela and SiHa cells. Cell's proliferation and migration were evaluated by MTT and scratch healing assay. The CD73 specific antagonist -APCP was used to inhibit CD73 enzymatic activity. And the effect of APCP on CD73 activity was determined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Expression level was assessed by qRT-PCR and western blotting.Results: In the present study, we used Hela and SiHa cell lines to evaluate the effects of CD73 on cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration, and further explore the potential regulating mechanisms. Our data showed that CD73 overexpression significantly promoted cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration, and this promotive effect was not reverted by blocking CD73 enzymatic activity, both in Hela and SiHa cells. On the other hand, our data also showed that high concentration of adenosine inhibited Hela and SiHa cells proliferation and migration. These results demonstrated that the promotive effect of CD73 on cervical cancer cells proliferation and migration in vitro was independent from its enzymatic activity (i.e. production of adenosine). Furthermore, the expressions of EGFR, VEGF and Akt were significantly increased in CD73 overexpression Hela and SiHa cells.Conclusions: Our data suggested that CD73 might promote proliferation and migration via potentiating EGFR/Akt and VEGF/Akt pathway, which was independent of CD73 enzyme activity. These data provide a novel insight into the regulating function of CD73 in cancer cells and suggest that CD73 may be promising therapeutic target in cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it is known that the regenerative function of neural stem/progenitor cells ( NSPCs) declines with age, causal mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are not understood. Here, we systematically analyze subventricular zone ( SVZ) NSPCs, in various groups of rats across the aging spectrum, using in vitro and in vivo histological and behavioral techniques. These studies indicate that although NSPC function continuously declines with advancing age, there is a critical time period during middle age (13-15 months) when a striking reduction in NSPC survival and regeneration (proliferation and neuronal differentiation) occurs. The studies also indicate that this specific temporal pattern of NSPC deterioration is functionally relevant at a behavioral level and correlates with the decreasing expression of the redox-sensitive transcription factor, Nrf2, in the NSPCs. When Nrf2 expression was suppressed in 'young' NSPCs, using short interfering RNAs, the survival and regeneration of the NSPCs was significantly compromised and mirrored 'old' NSPCs. Conversely, Nrf2 overexpression in 'old' NSPCs rendered them similar to 'young' NSPCs, and they showed increased survival and regeneration. Furthermore, examination of newborn Nrf2 knockout (Nrf2 −/−) mice revealed a lower number of SVZ NSPCs in these animals, when compared to wild-type controls. In addition, the proliferative and neurogenic potential of the NSPCs was also compromised in the Nrf2−/− mice. These results identify a novel regulatory role for Nrf2 in NSPC function during aging and have important implications for developing NSPC-based strategies to support healthy aging and to treat age-related neurodegenerative disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) checkpoint blockade therapy requires the CD28 co-stimulatory receptor for CD8+ T cell expansion and cytotoxicity. However, CD28 expression is frequently lost in exhausted T cells and during immune senescence, limiting the clinical benefits of PD-1 immunotherapy in individuals with cancer. Here, using a cereblon knockin mouse model that regains in vivo T cell response to lenalidomide, an immunomodulatory imide drug, we show that lenalidomide reinstates the anti-tumor activity of CD28-deficient CD8+ T cells after PD-1 blockade. Lenalidomide redirects the CRL4Crbn ubiquitin ligase to degrade Ikzf1 and Ikzf3 in T cells and unleashes paracrine interleukin-2 (IL-2) and intracellular Notch signaling, which collectively bypass the CD28 requirement for activation of intratumoral CD8+ T cells and inhibition of tumor growth by PD-1 blockade. Our results suggest that PD-1 immunotherapy can benefit from a lenalidomide combination when treating solid tumors infiltrated with abundant CD28− T cells. [Display omitted] • Lenalidomide suppresses tumor growth by activating T cells in Crbn I391V mice • Lenalidomide reinstates PD-1 blockade efficacy compromised by loss of CD28 • Lenalidomide enhances T cell immunity by up-regulating IL-2 and Notch signaling Loss of CD28 T cell co-stimulation compromises PD-1 blockade efficacy. Geng et al. use genetically engineered mouse models to demonstrate that lenalidomide, an immunomodulatory drug, reinvigorates CD28-deficient T cells to empower PD-1 immunotherapy against solid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high mortality and disability of diabetic nonhealing skin ulcers create an urgent need for the development of more efficacious strategies targeting diabetic wound healing. In the current study, using human clinical specimens, we show that perilesional skin tissues from patients with diabetes are under more severe oxidative stress and display higher activation of the nuclear factor-E2-related factor 2 (NRF2)-mediated antioxidant response than perilesional skin tissues from normoglycemic patients. In a streptozotocin-induced diabetes mouse model, Nrf2(-/-) mice have delayed wound closure rates compared with Nrf2(+/+) mice, which is, at least partially, due to greater oxidative DNA damage, low transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and high matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) expression, and increased apoptosis. More importantly, pharmacological activation of the NRF2 pathway significantly improves diabetic wound healing. In vitro experiments in human immortalized keratinocyte cells confirm that NRF2 contributes to wound healing by alleviating oxidative stress, increasing proliferation and migration, decreasing apoptosis, and increasing the expression of TGF-β1 and lowering MMP9 under high-glucose conditions. This study indicates an essential role for NRF2 in diabetic wound healing and the therapeutic benefits of activating NRF2 in this disease, laying the foundation for future clinical trials using NRF2 activators in treating diabetic skin ulcers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]