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Since the first proposal by Seeman in 1982, DNA nanostructures have been gradually improved, and have been widely developed and applied to the field of biomedical fields. In recent years, as a representative of 3D DNA nanostructures, tetrahedral framework nucleic acids (tFNA) has made certain research progress and has good application prospects in frontier fields such as biosensors, tumor therapy, antigen detection, regenerative medicine, with the advantages of their good biocompatibility, editability, high stability and easy preparation. This paper briefly describes the concepts of tFNA, and summarizes the applications and research progress of tFNA in the following fields from the perspective of therapeutic applications: ① Building novel self-assembled complexes to improve the efficacy of free drugs, carrying small RNA molecules to slow down tumor progression, and self-assembled complexes for targeted therapy, etc, as biological vectors and tumor drug delivery. ② Regulating inflammation and immune response, such as reducing the level of inflammatory factors, treating inflammatory diseases, preventing diabetes, and acting as immunomodulators, etc. ③ Enhancing tissue regeneration, such as promoting stem cell proliferation and differentiation, stimulating peripheral nerve regeneration, and facilitating wound repair through angiogenesis. This review summarizes the research progress of tFNA, and looks forward to its application prospects based on the analysis of the shortcomings of existing research, in order to provide reference for further research.

The construction industry is a significant contributor to carbon emissions in China. To effectively meet the "dual carbon" targets, several provincial regions within the country started to implement policies promoting prefabricated buildings. This study examines data from 18 provinces in China over the period from 2012 to 2021, treating the introduction of prefabricated building policies as a quasi-natural experiment. Utilizing the difference-in-differences methodology, this research assesses the impact of these policies on the carbon emission performance of China's construction sector and evaluates the robustness of the findings. The results indicate that the prefabricated building policies positively influenced the carbon emission efficiency of the construction industry. Specifically, these policies enhance carbon emission efficiency by increasing labor productivity, optimizing the allocation of mechanical resources, and improving the utilization rate of building materials. Additionally, the effectiveness of these policies is positively correlated with the level of regional technological innovation, environmental protection efforts, and the advancement of energy structure optimization. The study concludes with several policy recommendations aimed at further enhancing the effectiveness of prefabricated building policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tungsten (W) can be used in plasma-facing components in a fusion reactor because of its excellent radiation resistance. Some studies have found that nanocrystalline metals with a high density of grain boundary show a higher ability to resist radiation damage compared to conventional coarse-grained materials. However, the interaction mechanism between grain boundary and defect is still unclear. In the present study, molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to explore the difference of defect evolution in single-crystal and bicrystal W, while the effects of temperature and the energy of the primary knocked atom (PKA) were taken into account. The irradiation process was simulated at the temperature range of 300 to 1500 K, and the PKA energy varied from 1 to 15 keV. The results show that the generation of defects is more sensitive to the energy of PKA than temperature; the number of defects increases at the thermal spike stage with the increase of the PKA energy, but the correlation with temperature is not strong. The presence of the grain boundary prevented the recombination of interstitial atoms and vacancies during the collision cascades, and the vacancies were more likely to form large clusters than interstitial atoms in the bicrystal models. This can be ascribed to the strong segregation tendency of the interstitial atoms to grain boundaries. The simulations provide useful information for understanding the role of grain boundaries in the evolution of irradiated structural defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Piperine, an important natural product, has a good anti-inflammatory effect. However, few researchers have studied its mechanism in these pathways. The objective of this research was to evaluate the molecular mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory responses of piperine in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. The purification and characterization of piperine from Piper nigrum L. were determined by HPLC, UPLC-Q-TOF-MS and 1H NMR. Then, the anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated by a reagent test kit, ELISA kits, RT-PCR and Western blot experiments. The results suggested that piperine (90.65 ± 0.46% purity) at a concentration of 10–20 mg/L attenuated the production of NO and ROS, downregulated the protein and mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6, and upregulated the protein and mRNA transcription levels of IL-10. Meanwhile, the Western blot results indicated that piperine could inhibit the phosphorylation levels of the ERK, JNK, p38 and p65 proteins. Our findings suggest that piperine is a potential anti-inflammatory substance, whose molecular mechanism may be to regulate the key factors of the NF-κB and MAPK signalling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder with high clinical heterogeneity manifested by the presence of obsessions and/or compulsions. The classification of the symptom dimensional subtypes is helpful for further exploration of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying the clinical heterogeneity of OCD. Washing and checking symptoms are the two major symptom subtypes in OCD, but the neural mechanisms of the different types of symptoms are not yet clearly understood. The purpose of this study was to compare regional and network functional alterations between washing and checking OCD based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Methods: In total, 90 subjects were included, including 15 patients in the washing group, 30 patients in the checking group, and 45 healthy controls (HCs). Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to compare the differences in regional spontaneous neural activity among the three groups, and local indicators were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves as imaging markers for the prediction of the clinical subtypes of OCD. Furthermore, differently activated local brain areas, as regions of interest (ROIs), were used to explore differences in altered brain functioning between washing and checking OCD symptoms based on a functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Results: Extensive abnormalities in spontaneous brain activity involving frontal, temporal, and occipital regions were observed in the patients compared to the HCs. The differences in local brain functioning between checking and washing OCD were mainly concentrated in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, right angular gyrus, and right inferior occipital gyrus. The ROC curve analysis revealed that the hyperactivation right middle frontal gyrus had a better discriminatory value for checking and washing OCD. Furthermore, the seed-based FC analysis revealed higher FC between the left medial superior frontal gyrus and right caudate nucleus compared to that in the healthy controls. Conclusions: These findings suggest that extensive local differences exist in intrinsic spontaneous activity among the checking group, washing group, and HCs. The neural basis of checking OCD may be related to dysfunction in the frontal–striatal network, which distinguishes OCD from washing OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mycobacterial proteins in exosomes from peripheral serum of patients with tuberculosis (TB) have been identified, other exact compositions of exosomes remain unknown. In the present study, a comprehensive proteomics analysis of serum exosomes derived from patients with active TB (ATB) was performed. Exosomes from patients with ATB were characterized using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and western blotting analysis. Then identified protein components were quantified by label-free proteomics and were determined via bioinformatics analysis. A total of 123 differential proteins were identified in ATB serum exosomes and analyzed with Gene Ontology (GO) analysis. Among these proteins heat shock protein70 (HSP70), CD81, major histocompatibility complex-I (MHC-I) and tumor susceptibility gene101 (TSG101) were present in exosomes of ATB and normal individuals confirmed via western blotting. In addition, among identified exosomal proteins lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP) increased significantly, but CD36 and MHC-I decreased significantly in ATB exosomes. Meanwhile, MHC-I was down-expressed in serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of ATB, but interestingly CD36 was down-regulated in serum and up-expressed in PBMCs of ATB patients validated with ELISA and flow cytometry. CD36 was up-regulated by M. tuberculosis H37Ra infection in macrophages and suppressed in exosomes from H37Ra infected macrophages detected by western blotting. This study provided a comprehensive description of the exosome proteome in the serum of patients with ATB and revealed certain potential biomarkers associated with TB infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]