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Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between preoperative pain catastrophizing and social support, and acute post-surgical pain in patients who underwent knee arthroplasty. The study also aimed to determine whether social support moderates the role of pain catastrophizing psychologically in acute post-surgical pain after knee arthroplasty. Patients and Methods: This study recruited participants to survey a tertiary hospital in Dalian, China, between November 2022 and October 2023. Participants completed pain catastrophizing scales and social support reevaluated scales one day (T1) before they were confirmed to undergo knee arthroplasty, and finished the Numeric Rating Scale at 24h (T2), 48h (T3), and 72h (T4) postoperatively. Pearson correlation analyses were used to explore the relationship between social support, pain catastrophizing, and acute post-surgical pain, hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the moderating role of social support between pain catastrophizing and acute post-surgical pain. Results: This study recruited 178 knee arthroplasty patients. The results of the t-test or one-way ANOVA indicated that there were statistically significant differences in gender, age, education, occupation, disease duration, whether the knee replacement was performed for the first time, preoperative pain scores, and operation time in patients with knee arthroplasty (P < 0.05). The correlation analysis of social support, pain catastrophization, and acute post-surgical pain in knee arthroplasty patients showed that social support was negatively correlated with acute post-surgical pain (r=− 0.584, P< 0.01), and pain catastrophizing was positively correlated with postoperative acute pain (r=0.601, P< 0.01); The hierarchical regression analysis revealed that social support had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between pain catastrophizing and acute post-surgical pain (ΔR2=0.606, P< 0.05). Conclusion: The acute post-surgical pain of knee arthroplasty patients was affected by gender, age, education, occupation, disease duration, whether the knee arthroplasty was performed for the first time, preoperative pain scores, and operation time. Acute Post-surgical pain in patients with knee arthroplasty was affected by social support and pain catastrophizing, and social support had a moderating effect on the relationship between pain catastrophizing and acute post-surgical pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reinforced concrete structures play a pivotal role in island and reef engineering projects. Given the resource constraints typical of island regions, substituting traditional manufactured sand aggregate with reef limestone not only reduces reliance on river sand but also addresses the issue of disposing of waste reef limestone slag generated during excavation. However, the performance characteristics of reef limestone concrete, particularly its bond strength with reinforcing steel, warrant further investigation. This is particularly true for the bond–slip behavior of the reinforcement. This study aims to elucidate the effects of various parameters on the bond performance between steel and reef limestone concrete through central pullout tests. These parameters include the type and diameter of the reinforcement, bond length, and loading rate. The investigation encompasses the analysis of load–slip curves, bond failure modes, and variations in bond stress. Additionally, using the Abaqus software, a numerical simulation was conducted to analyze the mesoscopic stress characteristics, thereby revealing the mechanisms of bond formation and failure modes between steel reinforcement and reef limestone concrete. The results indicate that the bond–slip curve for reef limestone concrete reinforced with ribbed rebars and Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebars can be broadly categorized into four phases: minor slip, slip, decline, and residual, with the residual phase exhibiting a wave-like pattern. The predominant failure modes in reef limestone concrete are either pulling out or splitting. The bond stress in reef limestone concrete decreases with an increase in rebar diameter and bond length; conversely, it increases with the loading rate, although the ultimate slip decreases. The mesoscopic failure characteristics of reinforced reef limestone concrete, as simulated in Abaqus, are consistent with the experimental outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Conventional pesticide formulations are often inefficient because of low biological uptake after spraying. Controlled release nanopesticides can release pesticides precisely in response to specific stimuli, thereby killing pests and pathogens using the least effective concentration. This study aims to develop nanocapsule‐based photo‐decomposable nanopesticides for efficient pesticide control. RESULTS: The target nanopesticides were successfully fabricated using layer‐by‐layer assembly of the negative azobenzene‐grafted hyaluronic acid (azo‐HA) and positive polydimethyldiallylammonium chloride (polyDADMAC), confirmed by UV‐visible, dynamic light scattering, Zeta potential and transmission electron microscopy measurements. The particle size and Zeta potential of the fabricated nanocapsules were 220 nm and +46.1 mV, respectively, and the nanocapsules were found to remain stable for up to 30 days. The optimized drug loading and encapsulation ratio of imidacloprid (IMI) in IMI/azo‐HA@polyDADMAC were 21.5% and 91.3%, respectively. Cumulative release of IMI from the nanopesticides increased from ~50% to ~95% upon UV light irradiation (365 nm). The half lethal concentration (LC50) value of the nanopesticides toward Aphis craccivora Koch decreased from 2.22 to 0.55 mg L−1 upon UV light irradiation. CONCLUSION: The trans to cis transformation of the azo group in HA decomposed IMI/azo‐HA@polyDADMAC nanopesticides upon UV irradiation, thus facilitating the release of IMI, resulting in a decrease in the concentration of pesticides required for efficient pesticide control. Our work demonstrated the great potential of light‐responsive nanocapsules as a controlled release nanocarrier for efficient and eco‐friendly pesticide control in sustainable agriculture. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the traditional black tea processing technology, the hot air withering process was used to replace the traditional indoor natural withering process on the basis of the traditional black tea processing technology. The effects of four hot air withering processes of 35 °, 45 °, 55 ° and 65 ° on the quality of summer and autumn black tea were studied and analyzed from three aspects of sensory quality, taste quality and aroma quality. The results show that compared with 25 ° traditional indoor natural withering black tea, the comprehensive sensory quality of black tea processed by 45 ° hot air withering process was better. The color of dry tea was dark brown and moist, the soup color was red and bright, the taste was mellow and refreshing, and the quality characteristics was sweet aroma. At the same time, the contents of tea polyphenols, gallic acid, EGCG, theaflavins, thearubigins and the ratio of the sum contents of theaflavins and thearubigins to the content of theabrownins (TFRB) significantly increased (P<0.05), while the content of soluble sugar decreased significantly (P<0.05). The types of aroma quality components increased, among which alcohols accounted for the highest proportion (70.47%), and the relative contents of alcohols, ketones and esters increased significantly (P<0.05), while pyrroles and aldehydes decreased significantly (P < 0.05). And the aroma components with flower and fruit aroma such as trans-3-hexenol, 2,3-dihydro-2,2,6-trimethylbenzaldehyde and α-ionone were detected. This shows that hot air withering with appropriate temperature is conducive to improving the quality of black tea, which can be applied to the production practice of improving the quality of black tea in summer and autumn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global burden of liver disease is enormous, which highlights the need for effective hepatoprotective agents. It was reported that allicin exhibits protective effects against a range of diseases. In this study, we further evaluated allicin's effect and mechanism in acute hepatic injury. Liver injury in mice was induced by intraperitoneal injection with 1% CCl4 (10 mL/kg/day). When the first dose was given, CCl4 was given immediately after administration of different doses of allicin (40, 20, and 10 mg/kg/day) as well as compound glycyrrhizin (CGI, 80 mg/kg/day), and then different doses of allicin (40, 20, and 10 mg/kg/day) as well as compound glycyrrhizin (CGI, 80 mg/kg/day) were administrated every 12 h. The animals were dissected 24 h after the first administration. The findings demonstrated a significant inhibition of CCl4-induced acute liver injury following allicin treatment. This inhibition was evidenced by notable reductions in serum levels of transaminases, specifically aspartate transaminase, along with mitigated histological damage to the liver. In this protective process, allicin plays the role of reducing the amounts or the expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines, IL-1β, IL-6. Furthermore, allicin recovered the activities of the antioxidant enzyme catalase (CAT) and reduced the production of malondialdehyde (MDA) in a dose-dependent manner, and also reduced liver Caspase 3, Caspase 8, and BAX to inhibit liver cell apoptosis. Further analysis showed that the administration of allicin inhibited the increased protein levels of Nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), which is related to inflammation and oxidative stress. The in vitro study of the LPS-induced RAW264.7 inflammatory cell model confirmed that allicin can inhibit important inflammation-related factors and alleviate inflammation. This research firstly clarified that allicin has a significant protective effect on CCl4-induced liver injury via inhibiting the inflammatory response and hepatocyte apoptosis, alleviating oxidative stress associated with the progress of liver damage, highlighting the potential of allicin as a hepatoprotective agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades act as crucial signaling modules that regulate plant growth and development, response to biotic/abiotic stresses, and plant immunity. MAP3Ks can be activated through MAP4K phosphorylation in non-plant systems, but this has not been reported in plants to date. Here, we identified a total of 234 putative TaMAPK family members in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). They included 48 MAPKs, 17 MAP2Ks, 144 MAP3Ks, and 25 MAP4Ks. We conducted systematic analyses of the evolution, domain conservation, interaction networks, and expression profiles of these TaMAPK–TaMAP4K (representing TaMAPK, TaMAP2K, TaMAP3K, and TaMAP4K) kinase family members. The 234 TaMAPK–TaMAP4Ks are distributed on 21 chromosomes and one unknown linkage group (Un). Notably, 25 of these TaMAP4K family members possessed the conserved motifs of MAP4K genes, including glycine-rich motif, invariant lysine (K) motif, HRD motif, DFG motif, and signature motif. TaMAPK3 and 6, and TaMAP4K10/24 were shown to be strongly expressed not only throughout the growth and development stages but also in response to drought or heat stress. The bioinformatics analyses and qRT-PCR results suggested that wheat may activate the MAP4K10–MEKK7–MAP2K11–MAPK6 pathway to increase drought resistance in wheat, and the MAP4K10–MAP3K8–MAP2K1/11-MAPK3 pathway may be involved in plant growth. In general, our work identified members of the MAPK–MAP4K cascade in wheat and profiled their potential roles during their response to abiotic stresses and plant growth based on their expression pattern. The characterized cascades might be good candidates for future crop improvement and molecular breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mulberry leaves (Morus alba L.) exhibit antidiabetic properties; however, their taste is unappetizing, leading to limited practical applications. Although Fu brick tea has a favorable flavor, its hypoglycemic effects are weak. Hence, we combined the two to create mulberry leaf Fu brick tea (SF) and investigated its sensory perception, safety, microorganism content, key metabolites, and impact on hyperglycemic mice using the same raw materials and techniques to prepare Fu brick tea (F) and mulberry leaf brick tea (S) individually. Our study showed that SF, which comprises blended mulberry leaf primary dark tea and primary dark tea (1 : 3 g/g), was sweeter and smoother, with a median lethal dose of 22.3 g/kg, indicating that it is safe for consumption. Compared to F, caffeine levels were reduced in SF and 1-deoxynojirimycin and aminobutyric acid levels were increased. Phenolic substances and flavonoids showed increased levels in SF compared with S. These changes contribute to the taste and functionality of SF. The primary microorganisms in SF were Bacillus, Lactobacillus, and Aspergillus, which contributed to the improved quality. SF demonstrated its antidiabetic effects by reducing the blood sugar levels of hyperglycemic mice, restoring the function of pancreatic cells, reducing lipid levels, and improving the antioxidant capacity of the liver. Overall, SF exhibited a better taste and antidiabetic properties than F and S, highlighting its potential as a functional beverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widely discussed single‐atom catalysts (SACs) are regarded as a kind of attractive material for sulfate radical‐based advanced oxidation processes (SR‐AOPs) owing to their maximum atomic utilization efficiency and outstanding stability. Currently, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have appeared as prospective precursors for building SACs due to extensive chelating sites, functional adjustability, and structural tunability. However, there are few critical and systematic reviews about the application of MOF‐derived SACs in SR‐AOPs, especially in‐depth analysis of the mechanisms. Therefore, this review seeks to offer a thorough summary of the development of MOF‐derived SACs in SR‐AOPs. First, the unique advantages of MOFs as derivative precursors for SACs are discussed thoroughly. Afterward, the current synthesis strategies are elaborated categorically to unveil the formation process of single atoms and their coordination environments. Notably, the roles of different reaction sites including the generation of reactive species and mediating electron transfer are further analyzed to explain mechanisms comprehensively. Thereafter, the characterization techniques and theoretical calculations for mechanisms studies are also highlighted. Eventually, critical insights into present challenges and future developments are proposed, which are expected to enhance the catalytic efficiency of MOF‐derived SACs in SR‐AOPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, bimetallic spinels (AB2X4) have played significant roles in energy and environmental remediation due to their excellent redox capacity. However, the disadvantages of traditional bimetallic spinels (blocky structure, low specific surface area, and poor reaction kinetics) limit their performances. Noting the controllable chemical composition, high specific surface area and strong design capability of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), bimetallic spinels synthesized using them as sacrificial templates inherit the structural advantages of the parent materials and improve the inherent defects of traditional bimetallic spinels. These provide great opportunities for the application and development of bimetallic spinels. Therefore, this review presents two synthetic strategies for MOF-derived bimetallic spinels. Special emphasis is placed on the performance advantages of MOF-derived bimetallic spinels due to their unique variations. Based on this, recent advances in the energy field and environmental remediation as well as the mechanism of action are systematically reviewed. Finally, some issues and outlooks on their design are presented. This review aims to provide a systematic reference for the design of MOF-derived bimetallic spinels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) remains an intractable reproductive dilemma due to the lack of understanding of the pathogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the preclinical evidence for the mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) treatment for URSA. Methods: A meticulous literature search was independently performed by two authors across the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and PubMed databases from inception to April 9, 2023. Each study incorporated was assessed using the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation (SYRCLE) risk of bias tool. The amalgamated standardized mean difference (SMD) accompanied by 95% confidence interval (CI) were deduced through a fixed-effects or random-effects model analysis. Results: A total of ten studies incorporating 140 mice were subjected to data analysis. The MSC treatment yielded a significant reduction in the abortion rate within the URSA model (OR = 0.23, 95%CI [0.17, 0.3], P<0.00001). Moreover, it elicited a positive modulatory impact on the expression profiles of several inflammatory cytokines in the decidual tissue of URSA murine models, inclusive of IL4 (SMD 1.63, 95% CI [0.39, 2.86], P = 0.01), IL10 (SMD 1.60, 95% CI [0.58, 2.61], P = 0.002), IFN-γ (SMD -1.66, 95%CI [-2.79, -0.52], P = 0.004), and TNF-α (SMD -1.98, 95% CI [-2.93, -1.04], P< 0.0001). Subgroup analyses underscored that the administration mode of intraperitoneal and uterine horn injections, and sources of bone MSCs and adipose-derived MSCs contributed positively to the expression of IL4, IL10, and decreased the expression of IFN-γ in decidual tissue of URSA (P<0.05). Conversely, the tail vein injections subgroup was observed with no statistical significance (P>0.05). Conclusions: The findings underscore the considerable potential of MSCs in URSA therapy. Nonetheless, the demand for enhanced transparency in research design and direct comparisons between various MSC sources and administration routes in URSA is paramount to engendering robust evidence that could pave the way for successful clinical translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]