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Abstract Hypoxic responses have been implicated in critical pathologies, including inflammation, immunity, and tumorigenesis. Recently, efforts to identify effective natural remedies and health supplements are increasing. Previous studies have reported that the cell lysates and the cell wall-bound lipoteichoic acids of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum K8 (K8) exert anti-inflammatory and immunomodulative effects. However, the effect of K8 on cellular hypoxic responses remains unknown. In this study, we found that K8 lysates had a potent suppressive effect on gene expression under hypoxia. K8 lysates markedly downregulated hypoxia-induced HIF1α accumulation in the human bone marrow and lung cancer cell lines, SH-SY5Y and H460. Consequently, the transcription of known HIF1α target genes, such as p21, GLUT1, and ALDOC, was notably suppressed in the K8 lysate supplement and purified lipoteichoic acids of K8, upon hypoxic induction. Intriguingly, K8 lysates decreased the expression of PHD2 and VHL proteins, which are responsible for HIF1α destabilization under normoxic conditions, suggesting that K8 may regulate HIF1α stability in a non-canonical pathway. Overall, our results suggest that K8 lysates desensitize the cells to hypoxic stresses and suppress HIF1α-mediated hypoxic gene activation.

Abstract A universal approach for enhancing water affinity in polymer photocatalysts by covalently attaching hydrophilic photocrosslinkers to polymer chains is presented. A series of bisdiazirine photocrosslinkers, each comprising bisdiazirine photophores linked by various aliphatic (CL‐R) or ethylene glycol‐based bridge chains (CL‐TEG), is designed to prevent crosslinked polymer photocatalysts from degradation through a safe and efficient photocrosslinking reaction at a wavelength of 365 nm. When employing the hydrophilic CL‐TEG as a photocrosslinker with polymer photocatalysts (F8BT), the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) rate is considerably enhanced by 2.5‐fold compared to that obtained using non‐crosslinked F8BT photocatalysts, whereas CL‐R‐based photocatalysts yield HER rates comparable to those of non‐crosslinked counterparts. Photophysical analyses including time‐resolved photoluminescence and transient absorption measurements reveal that adding CL‐TEG accelerates exciton separation, forming long‐lived charge carriers. Additionally, the in‐depth study using molecular dynamics simulations elucidates the dual role of CL‐TEG: it enhances water penetration into the polymer matrix and stabilizes charge carriers after exciton generation against undesirable recombination. Therefore, the strategy highlights endowing a high‐permittivity environment within polymer photocatalyst in a controlled manner is crucial for enhancing photocatalytic redox reactivity. Furthermore, this study shows that this hydrophilic crosslinker approach has a broad applicability in general polymer semiconductors and their nanoparticulate photocatalysts.

BackgroundA genome-wide association study (GWAS) is a valuable tool for investigating genetic and phenotypic variation in many diseases.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to identify variations in the genomes of Maltese dogs that are associated with the mammary gland tumor (MGT) phenotype and to assess the association between each biological condition and MGT phenotype in Maltese dogs.MethodsDNA was extracted from 22 tumor samples and 11 whole blood samples from dogs with MGTs. Genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping was performed, and the top 20 SNPs associated with various conditions and genetic variations were mapped to their corresponding gene locations.ResultsThe genotyping process successfully identified 173,662 loci, with an overall genotype completion rate of 99.92%. Through the quality control analysis, 46,912 of these SNPs were excluded. Allelic tests were conducted to generate Manhattan plots, which showed several significant SNPs associated with MGT phenotype in intergenic region. The most prominent SNP, located within a region associated with transcription and linked to the malignancy grade of MGT, was identified on chromosome 5 (p = 0.00001) though there may be lack of statistical significance. Other SNPs were also found in several genes associated with oncogenesis, including TNFSF18, WDR3, ASIC5, STAR, and IL1RAP.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first GWAS to analyze the genetic predisposition to MGT in Maltese dogs. Despite the limited number of cases, these analyzed data could provide the basis for further research on the genetic predisposition to MGTs in Maltese dogs.

Abstract Conjugated polymer (CP)/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites have been actively used for thermoelectrics for more than a decade. Thermoelectric performance of CP/CNT composites is greatly improved compared with that of the individual components; however, the underlying origin of the performance improvement remains vague, without clear explanations at the molecular scale. Moreover, the nature of the heterogeneous system limits quantitative analysis and restricts physical understanding of the thermoelectric effect in the composites. By combining experimental approaches with molecular dynamics simulations, the contribution of the CPs to the thermoelectric properties at inter‐tube junctions between adjacent CNTs is revealed. Indacenodithiophene‐co‐benzothiadiazole (IDTBT), which has a highly planar backbone and does not aggregate at CP/CNT interfaces, can better mediate effective intramolecular charge transport along backbone chains at inter‐tube junctions than poly[2,5‐bis(3‐tetradecylthiophene‐2‐yl)thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene] (PBTTT). The isotropic and continuous distribution of IDTBT backbone chains enables both holes and phonons to be transported effectively at inter‐tube junctions; this effect greatly increases electrical conductivity, but also increases thermal conductivity. Thus, to obtain a high thermoelectric figure of merit, the balance between the two effects must be optimized. These results may enable CP/CNT composites, whose development is currently stagnating, to be developed into commercially available thermoelectrics, complementing their conventional inorganic counterparts.

Nanophotonic arithmetic circuits requiring cascaded Boolean operations are difficult to implement due to loss and footprint issues. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate plasmonic half-subtractor and demultiplexer circuits based on transmission-lines. Empowered by the unique polarization selectivity in the surface plasmon modal behaviors, both circuits are realized without cascading. The operations of the half-subtractor and demultiplexer can be performed using a single laser beam with three predefined linear polarizations. All of our experiments are performed using a 56 fs laser providing greater than 12.5 THz optical bandwidth. The experimental results are found in excellent quantitative accordance with numerical calculations. The photonic integrated circuit framework proposed in this work could pave the future avenue towards the realization of highly compact, multi-functional, on-chip integrated photonic processors.

Lipid droplet (LD) is a highly dynamic organelle capable of regulating lipid metabolism, storage and transportation. Here, by combining molecular dynamics simulations and microbial LD engineering, the authors demonstrate that the structural flexibility of lipids is one of decisive factors in selective partitioning into LDs.

There has recently been a rapid progress in computational methods for determining protein targets of small molecule drugs, which will be termed as compound protein interaction (CPI). In this review, we comprehensively review topics related to computational prediction of CPI. Data for CPI has been accumulated and curated significantly both in quantity and quality. Computational methods have become powerful ever to analyze such complex the data. Thus, recent successes in the improved quality of CPI prediction are due to use of both sophisticated computational techniques and higher quality information in the databases. The goal of this article is to provide reviews of topics related to CPI, such as data, format, representation, to computational models, so that researchers can take full advantages of these resources to develop novel prediction methods. Chemical compounds and protein data from various resources were discussed in terms of data formats and encoding schemes. For the CPI methods, we grouped prediction methods into five categories from traditional machine learning techniques to state-of-the-art deep learning techniques. In closing, we discussed emerging machine learning topics to help both experimental and computational scientists leverage the current knowledge and strategies to develop more powerful and accurate CPI prediction methods.

Abstract Background There is little data regarding types of idiopathic premature ventricular complex (PVC) according to heart rate dependence. Methods One hundred and sixty-eight patients with idiopathic PVC were enrolled in this study. Evaluation of the number of PVCs and total ventricular beats, and the density of PVC was done using 24 h Holter monitoring. Patients were divided into groups as having: fast rate-dependent (Group I), slow rate-dependent (Group II), and heart rate-independent PVC (Group III) based on the relationship between the number of hourly PVC and hourly heart rate. After ß-blocker medication, 24 h Holter monitoring was repeated. Results Among the 168 subjects, 66 (39.3%) patients were in Group I, 18 (10.7%) in Group II, and 84 (50.0%) in Group III. There were no significant differences in the baseline number of PVCs and total ventricular beats, and the density of PVC among the three groups. The number of PVCs was significantly reduced in patients with Group I (14,030 ± 11,463 beats/day vs. 7401 ± 10,464 beats/day, p

Airtime fairness, or time-based fairness, has been well recognized as a method to solve WiFi performance anomalies and provide a balance between fairness and spectrum efficiency in multi-rate wireless networks. However, the definition of airtime is vague and simplistic. In this paper, it is demonstrated that current airtime fair scheduling results in unfairness in reality because overheads are neglected or unfairly counted. We introduce a notion of responsible airtime, which covers not only the data transmission time, but also all overheads, even a TCP ACK segment in TCP traffic. An approach based on responsible airtime can provide true time-based fairness, but responsible airtime is too complicated to directly handle. A practical method is thus introduced for evaluating responsible airtime fairness indirectly via throughput measurement. The key element, throughput fair share, of a node, is based on the baseline property in time-based fairness. For each node, an achieving ratio of actual throughput to the throughput fair share is determined, and a new fairness index considering deficiency as well as equity is applied. To validate the feasibility of responsible airtime fairness, we have developed a simple responsible airtime fair scheduler in access points for download traffic. Extensive simulation experiments are conducted in various network and traffic environments using the ns3 simulator. The results show that true time-based fairness is achievable in practice.

Demand response technology is a key technology for distributing electricity tasks in response to electricity prices in a smart grid system. In the current demand response research, there has been much demand for an automated energy scheduling scheme that uses smart devices for residential customers in the smart grid. In this paper, two automated energy scheduling schemes are proposed for residential smart grid demand response systems: semi-automated scheduling and fully-automated scheduling. If it is possible to set the appliance preference, semi-automated scheduling will be conducted, and if it is impossible, fully-automated scheduling will be operated. The formulated optimization problems consider the electricity bill along with the user convenience. For the fully-automated scheduling, the appliance preference can automatically be found according to appliance type from the electricity consumption statistics. A performance evaluation validates that the proposed scheme shifts operation to avoid peak load, that the electricity bill is significantly reduced, and that user convenience is satisfied.

Flammulina velutipes is one of the major edible mushrooms in the world. Recently, abnormalities that have a negative impact on crop production have been reported in this mushroom. These symptoms include slow vegetative growth, a compact mycelial mat, and few or even no fruiting bodies. The morphologies and fruiting capabilities of monokaryons of wild-type and degenerate strains that arose through arthrospore formation were investigated through test crossing. Only one monokaryotic group of the degenerate strains and its hybrid strains showed abnormal phenotypes. Because the monokaryotic arthrospore has the same nucleus as the parent strain, these results indicated that only one aberrant nucleus of the two nuclei in the degenerate strain was responsible for the degeneracy. A sequence-characterized amplified region marker that is linked to the degenerate monokaryon was identified based on a polymorphic sequence that was generated using random primers. Comparative analyses revealed the presence of a degenerate-specific genomic region in a telomere, which arose via the transfer of a genomic fragment harboring a putative helicase gene. Our findings have narrowed down the potential molecular targets responsible for this phenotype for future studies and have provided a marker for the detection of degenerate strains.