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Proteasomes are the central proteolytic machines that are critical for breaking down most of the damaged and abnormal proteins in human cells. Although universally applicable drugs are not yet available, the stimulation of proteasomal activity is being analyzed as a proof-of-principle strategy to increase cellular resistance to a broad range of proteotoxic stressors. These approaches have included the stimulation of proteasomes through the overexpression of individual proteasome subunits, phosphorylation, or conformational changes induced by small molecules or peptides. In contrast to these approaches, we evaluated a transcription-driven increase in the total proteasome pool to enhance the proteolytic capacity of degenerating retinal neurons. We show that overexpression of nuclear factor erythroid-2-like 1 (Nfe2l1) transcription factor stimulated proteasome biogenesis and activity, improved the clearance of the ubiquitin-proteasomal reporter, and delayed photoreceptor neuron loss in a preclinical mouse model of human blindness caused by misfolded proteins. The findings highlight Nfe2l1 as an emerging therapeutic target to treat neurodegenerative diseases linked to protein misfolding.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between maternal vascular malperfusion and acute intrauterine infection/inflammation with neonatal outcomes., Methods: This was a retrospective study of women with singleton pregnancies who completed placenta pathological examination. The aim was to study the distribution of acute intrauterine infection/inflammation and maternal placental vascular malperfusion among groups with preterm birth and/or rupture of membranes. The relationship between two subtypes of placental pathology and neonatal gestational age, birth weight Z-score, neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, and intraventricular hemorrhage was further explored., Results: 990 pregnant women were divided into four groups, including 651 term, 339 preterm, 113 women with premature rupture of membranes, and 79 with preterm premature rupture of membranes. The incidence of respiratory distress syndrome and intraventricular hemorrhage in four groups were (0.7%, 0.0%, 31.9%, 31.6%, P  < 0.001) and (0.9%, 0.9%, 20.0%, 17.7%, P  < 0.001), respectively. The incidence of maternal vascular malperfusion and acute intrauterine infection/inflammation were (82.0%, 77.0%, 75.8%, 72.1%, P  = 0.06) and (21.9%, 26.5%, 23.1%, 44.3%, P = 0.010), respectively. Acute intrauterine infection/inflammation was associated with shorter gestational age (adjusted difference -4.7 weeks, P  < 0.001) and decreased weight (adjusted Z score -2.6, P  < 0.001) than those with no lesions in preterm birth. When two subtype placenta lesions co-occurrence, shorter gestational age (adjusted difference -3.0 weeks, P  < 0.001) and decreased weight (adjusted Z score -1.8, P  < 0.001) were observed in preterm. Consistent findings were observed in preterm births with or without premature rupture of membranes. In addition, acute infection/inflammation and maternal placenta malperfusion alone or in combination were associated with an increased risk of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.8, 1.5, 1.8), but the difference was not statistically significant., Conclusion: Maternal vascular malperfusion and acute intrauterine infection/inflammation alone or co-occurrence are associated with adverse neonatal outcomes, which may provide new ideas for clinical diagnosis and treatment., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Guo, Wang and Yu.)

Regular exercise maintains a healthy metabolic profile, while the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Extracellular vesicles serve as an important mediator in intercellular communication. In this study, we aimed to explore whether exercise-induced extracellular vesicles (EVs) of skeletal muscle origins contribute to exercise-related protective effects on metabolism. We found that the twelve weeks of swimming training improved glucose tolerance, reduced visceral lipid accumulation, alleviated liver damage, and inhibited atherosclerosis progression in both obese WT mice and ApoE -/- mice, which could be partially blocked by EV biogenesis repression. Injection of skeletal muscle-derived EVs from exercised C57BL/6J mice (twice a week for 12 weeks) had similar protective effects on both obese WT mice and ApoE -/- mice as exercise itself. Mechanistically, these exe-EVs could be endocytosed by major metabolic organs, especially the liver and adipose tissue. With the protein cargos rich in mitochondrial and fatty acid oxidation-related components, exe-EVs remodeled metabolism towards beneficial cardiovascular outcomes. Our study here has shown that exercise remodels metabolism towards beneficial cardiovascular outcomes at least partially via the skeletal muscle secreted EVs. Therapeutic delivery of exe-EVs or the analogues could be promising for prevention of certain cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

To date, solution-processing and vapor-deposition fabrication methods have achieved huge successes in high-efficiency perovskite solar cells (PSCs) and satisfy special demanding requirements for diverse application purposes, respectively. Although people realize that the fabrication procedure is crucial in device performance, insightful studies of charge carrier dynamics in perovskite films by different methods still lack. In this work, we compare the carrier behaviors in one-step spin-coated and dual-source coevaporated MAPbI 3 perovskite films by combining time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy and carrier dynamics simulation. We suggest that strains, lattice orientations, and defects at buried side of perovskite films, which are associated with different preparation processes, lead to variations in carrier behaviors. Hence fabrication of perovskite layers should be elaborately designed in order to satisfy the needs of different carrier behaviors in specified device configurations of PSCs such as smooth planar or textured monolithic tandem structures.

Background: The pathogenesis of coronary artery disease is complex, and inflammation is one of the regulatory factors. The nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor protein 1 (NLRP1) plays an important role in the cellular inflammatory response, cell apoptosis, cell death, and autoimmune diseases. Whether the level of NLRP1 is related to the severity of coronary artery stenosis in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) has not been reported., Objective: To test the serum level of NLRP1 in unstable angina (UA) patients and investigate the effect of NLRP1 on coronary stenosis severity of the coronary artery disease (CAD)., Methods: 307 patients hospitalized in the Department of Cardiology of the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University for coronary angiography from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022 were included. We detect the level of NLRP1 in the serum of the included patients. Patients were divided into UA group and control group according to coronary angiography results and other clinical data. We use logistic regression to screen the influencing factors of UA. Then, subgroups were divided according to the Gensini score and the number of coronary artery lesions, and the difference of serum NLRP1 level between the groups was compared. Spearman correlation analysis was used to explore the correlation between the serum NLRP1 level and Gensini score. We analyze the diagnostic value of NLRP1 for UA by drawing ROC curve., Results: The median level of serum NLRP1 in patients with UA ( n  = 257) was 49.71 pg/ml, IQR 30.15, 80.21, and that in patients without UA ( n  = 50) was 24.75 pg/ml, IQR 13.49, 41.95. Serum NLRP1 levels were significantly different among different subgroups. The patient's Gensini score was correlated with the patient's serum NLRP1 level., Conclusion: The serum NLRP1 level is increased in patients with UA, which is increased with the increasing severity of coronary lesions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Jing Zong et al.)

Background and Aims: Chronic inflammation plays a significant role in the etiology of endometriosis, which might be affected by dietary intake. This study aimed to investigate the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and the risk of endometriosis., Methods: A cross-sectional analysis using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2006) was conducted on 3,410 American participants, among whom 265 reported a diagnosis of endometriosis. DII scores were calculated based on the dietary questionnaire. The association of DII scores with endometriosis was evaluated by adjusted multivariate logistic regression analyzes, which were further investigated in the subgroups., Results: In the fully adjusted models, the odds ratio (OR) for endometriosis participants in the highest and middle tertiles of DII scores were 1.57 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-2.17] and 1.18 (95% CI: 0.84-1.65), compared to the lowest tertile ( P trend  = 0.007). In subgroup analyzes, the significant positive association between DII scores and the endometriosis risk was also observed in non-obese women (OR tertile3vs1 : 1.69, 95% CI: 1.12-2.55; P trend  = 0.012), women without diabetes (OR tertile3vs1 : 1.62, 95% CI: 1.16-2.27; P trend  = 0.005), women with hypertension (OR tertile3vs1 : 2.25, 95% CI: 1.31-3.87; P trend  = 0.003), parous women (OR tertile3vs1 : 1.55, 95% CI: 1.11-2.17; P trend  = 0.011), and women using oral contraceptives (OR tertile3vs1 : 1.63, 95% CI: 1.15-2.30; P trend  = 0.006)., Conclusion: This nationally representative study found that increased intake of the pro-inflammatory diet, as a higher DII score, was positively associated with endometriosis risk among American adults. Our results suggested anti-inflammatory dietary interventions may be promising in the prevention of endometriosis. Further prospective studies are necessary to confirm these findings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Liu, Maharjan, Wang, Zhang, Zhang, Xu, Geng and Miao.)

The stair-phase-coding patterns have been widely used to determine the fringe order for phase unwrapping of the wrapped phase in three-dimensional shape measurement. Although the special coding sequence algorithm can achieve with a large number of codewords, it needs the current codeword and its adjacent codewords to jointly determine the fringe order. If any codeword of the grouped adjacent codewords is incorrectly recognized, it will result in many false fringe orders. It increases the probability of fringe order error in the decoding process. And it is challenging to significantly increase the number of codewords. To solve this problem, we propose an absolute phase measurement method based on bidirectional coding patterns. The wrapped phase of the object is obtained by four-step phase-shifting patterns, and the fringe order is obtained by bidirectional coding patterns. When generating the bidirectional coding patterns, we code two groups of stair phase with different frequencies along the horizontal direction, which respectively represent local fringe order and partition information. Then, we alternately repeat the two groups of stair phase along the vertical direction in the whole pattern to obtain the bidirectional coding patterns. Each local fringe order information and the corresponding partition information in a small region jointly determine the fringe order of pixels in this small region. Fringe order errors in a small region do not affect other regions. To verify the effectiveness of our method, we performed simulations and experiments. Simulation and experimental results show that our method is effective for objects with different sizes and isolated objects.

Blackleg, caused by Leptosphaeria maculans , is an important disease of canola ( Brassica napus ). The pathogen can attack stems, leaves and pods, but basal stem cankers are most damaging and can result in significant yield losses. In Canada, Verticillium stripe ( Verticillium longisporum ) has recently emerged as another disease threat to canola. Symptoms of Verticillium stripe can resemble those of blackleg, and the two diseases may occur together. The effect of blackleg on yield was explored in field experiments with two canola hybrids and by evaluating a wider variety of hybrids in commercial crops in central Alberta, Canada. The impact on yield of L. maculans / V. longisporum interactions was also assessed under field and greenhouse conditions. In most hybrids, the relationship between blackleg severity and yield components was best explained by second-degree quadratic equations, although a linear relationship was found for one variety sampled in commercial fields. When L. maculans was co-inoculated with V. longisporum , blackleg severity and yield losses increased. In some cases, Verticillium stripe caused greater yield losses than blackleg. The results suggest that the interaction between L. maculans / V. longisporum may cause more severe losses in canola, highlighting the need for proactive disease management strategies.

An increasing number of studies connect inherited and age-related retinal degenerations with changes in the regulation of proteostasis. Here, we describe technical aspects of existing assays allowing to assess the status of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), changes in autophagy, and protein translation in mouse retina in vivo. These methods are helpful for the development and testing approaches to modulate proteostasis and delay vision loss., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of the critical challenges to mitigate global climate change, which is having detrimental impacts on society and the environment. Fossil fuel combustion in transportation, power generation, and industrial processes is the dominant contributor to carbon emissions. Over the past decades, sustainable solutions and strategies have been investigated and developed to enable decarbonization. Catalysis plays an essential role to address this global challenge by increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, capturing carbon dioxide, and utilizing clean energy sources to displace fossil fuels. In this Review, the role of catalysis in reducing energy demand was discussed, enhancing process efficiency, displacing carbon-intensive feedstocks and products, and therefore, reducing carbon emissions. Recent advances in catalyst development were summarized, focusing on applications to enhance industrial processes efficiency and enable utilization of clean energy sources. Emerging approaches in catalysis were reviewed, including the manufacture of iron and steel, direct air capture of CO 2 , production of ethylene, ammonia, and sustainable aviation fuels, plastic recycling, and the synthesis of biobased plastics. The Review was concluded with suggested research directions to achieve a carbon net-zero world., (© 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Background: Keloid, also known as connective tissue hyperplasia, is a benign proliferative disorder with a global distribution. The available therapeutic interventions are steroid injections, surgical removal of keloids, radiotherapy, compression therapy, the application of cryosurgery, and many other methods. Objectives: Existing treatments or approaches for keloids may lead to similar or even larger lesions at the site of keloid excision, leading to a high recurrence rate. Therefore, this study aims at identifying a new gene-based therapy for the treatment of keloids. Methods: An ASPN-siRNA/nanoparticle combination (si-ASPN) and a negative siRNA/nanoparticle complex (NC) was developed on the basis of bioinformatics studies and used in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results: The results showed a strong correlation between the development of keloids and high expression of ASPN protein. With the expression of ASPN protein greatly reduced in keloid fibroblasts and nude mice allografts after treatment with si-ASPN, the collagen and fibroblasts were also uniform, thinner, parallel and regular. Conclusion: All the above experimental results suggest that keloid and ASPN are closely related and both fibroblast growth and metabolism of keloid are inhibited after silencing ASPN. Therefore, ASPN-siRNA delivered via nanoparticles can serve as a novel intervention therapy for the treatment of keloids., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Dong, Zhang, Zhang, Li, Wang, Yan, Wu, Qiu, Zhu, Wang, Gu and Zhang.)

Owing to the surge in greenhouse gas emissions, climate change is attracting increasing attention worldwide. As the world's largest carbon emitter, the achievement of emission peak and carbon neutrality by China is seen as a milestone in the global response to the threat. By setting different "emission peak" and "carbon neutrality" paths, this study compares the different pathways taken by China towards regional emission reduction to illustrate China's possible contribution to global emission reduction, and analyzes the role that China's economy, population, and technology need to play in this process through the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology model. In terms of path setting, based on actual carbon emissions in various regions from 2000 to 2019 and grid data on land use from 2000 to 2020, the model simulates three emission peak paths to 2030 and two carbon neutrality paths to 2060, thus setting six possible carbon emission trends from 2000 to 2060 in different regions. It is found that the higher the unity of policy objectives at the emission peak stage, the lower the heterogeneity of the inter-regional carbon emission trends. In the carbon neutrality stage, the carbon emissions in the unconstrained symmetrical extension decline state scenario causes the greatest environmental harm. Certain regions must shoulder heavier responsibilities in the realization of carbon neutrality. The economic development level can lead to a rise in carbon emissions at the emission peak stage and inhibit it at the carbon neutrality stage. Furthermore, the dual effects of population scale and its quality level will increase carbon emissions at the emission peak stage and decrease it at the carbon neutrality stage. There will be a time lag between the output of science and technology innovation and its industrialization, while green innovation is a key factor in carbon neutrality. Based on the results, this study puts forward policy suggestions from a macro perspective to better realize China's carbon emission goals.

Background: Clinically, it is necessary to evaluate the overall situation of the tumor before treatment, understand the disease stage of the patient, and choose the most reasonable treatment plan. Therefore, it is necessary to seek an efficient and accurate staging diagnosis method. Endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is widely used in staging esophageal cancer, but its accuracy will be affected by the experience of endoscopic diagnosis physicians., Methods: Computer retrieval PubMed, MEDLINE, EBSCO, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Relevant literatures published from the database establishment to January 2022 were searched using "Endoscopic ultrasound, esophageal cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy, diagnosis, tumor node metastasis" as the detection term. Quality assessment of diagnostic accuracy studies (QUADAS) was used to evaluate the quality of the included literatures, Q test and heterogeneity (I2) was adopted to evaluate the heterogeneity among various studies, and the sensitivity and specificity of EUS were calculated and compared in evaluating various stages of esophageal cancer., Results: A total of 12 articles and 824 patients were included. 12 literatures on EUS in diagnosis of T staging were included for heterogeneity test, the combined sensitivity of T1-T4 stage was 0.16 (95% CI: 0.05-0.39), 0.34 (95% CI: 0.20-0.52), 0.78 (95% CI: 0.63-0.88), 0.16 (95% CI: 0.04-0.50). The combined specificity was 0.99 (95% CI: 0.94-1.00), 0.52 (95% CI: 0.36-0.68), 0.98 (95% CI: 0.95-0.99). According to the heterogeneity test of EUS n staging in 9 literatures, the combined sensitivities of N0-N1 stage was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.53-0.71) and 0.65 (95% CI: 0.58-0.72), combined specificities was 0.65 (95% CI: 0.58-0.71) and 0.63 (95% CI: 0.54-0.72)., Discussion: Based on the results, EUS is not a good diagnostic test for TNM staging., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://jgo.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/jgo-22-437/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Journal of Gastrointestinal Oncology. All rights reserved.)

Population aging has become a global challenge. Drawing data from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey 2008, 2011, and 2014, this study examines the effect of informal care receipt on functional limitations and depressive symptoms among older people in China using lagged fixed effects model. Our findings suggest that receiving informal care is significantly associated with a slower functional decline. We also find that this effect varies across different income groups. The protective effect of informal care is more pronounced among older people with higher income compared to those with lower income. We do not observe any significant associations between receiving informal care and depressive symptoms of older people. This study highlights a pressing need for the Chinese government to establish a comprehensive long-term care system.

In this paper, a clean process based on the steam-mediated reactions for simultaneous HCl and KCl production using the potassium (K)-containing phosphorous rock as a precursor is proposed. Through hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching, not only the generation of H 3 PO 4 and CaCl 2 (via further precipitation) were realized but also the acid-insoluble residue [phosphorous-rock slag (PS)] rich in elements, that is, K, Al, Si, and so on, in the form of microcline (KAlSi 3 O 8 ) and quartz (SiO 2 ) was obtained and became readily available for further HCl and KCl generation. Over 95% of the elements, that is, K, Al, and Si, come into the final products, and the overall acid consumption (based on HCl) is significantly reduced (90%) due to recovery of acids. The impacts of the key operational parameters such as temperature, duration, and reagent impregnate ratio were rigorously analyzed via a supervised machine learning approach, and the optimal conditions were determined [reaction temperature, X 1 , 850 °C; reaction duration, X 2 , 40 min; and impregnate ratio (PS over CaCl 2 ), X 3 , 2.5] with approximately ±10% uncertainties. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that the introduction of steam to PS + CaCl 2 not only enhances the chemical potential for the formation of HCl and KCl but also provides the transport advantage in continuously removing the generated products, that is, HCl and KCl, out of the system. Molecular simulation indicates that the presence of both steam and SiO 2 in the PS matrix plays critical roles in decomposing PS + CaCl 2 at high temperature. The shrinking core model shows that both the intrinsic kinetics and transport are influential with the activation energy being around 14.63 kJ/mol. The potential reaction pathway is postulated., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Blue cone monochromacy (BCM) is a congenital vision disorder affecting both middle-wavelength (M) and long-wavelength (L) cone photoreceptors of the human retina. BCM results from abolished expression of green and red light-sensitive visual pigments expressed in M- and L-cones, respectively. Previously, we showed that gene augmentation therapy to deliver either human L- or M-opsin rescues dorsal M-opsin dominant cone photoreceptors structurally and functionally in treated M-opsin knockout ( Opn1mw -/- ) mice. Although Opn1mw -/- mice represent a disease model for BCM patients with deletion mutations, at the cellular level, dorsal cones of Opn1mw -/- mice still express low levels of S-opsin, which are different from L- and M-cones of BCM patients carrying a congenital opsin deletion. To determine whether BCM cones lacking complete opsin expression from birth would benefit from AAV-mediated gene therapy, we evaluated the outcome of gene therapy, and determined the therapeutic window and longevity of rescue in a mouse model lacking both M- and S-opsin ( Opn1mw -/- /Opn1sw -/- ). Our data show that cones of Opn1mw -/- /Opn1sw -/- mice are viable at younger ages but undergo rapid degeneration. AAV-mediated expression of human L-opsin promoted cone outer segment regeneration and rescued cone-mediated function when mice were injected subretinally at 2 months of age or younger. Cone-mediated function and visually guided behavior were maintained for at least 8 months post-treatment. However, when mice were treated at 5 and 7 months of age, the chance and effectiveness of rescue was significantly reduced, although cones were still present in the retina. Crossing Opn1mw -/- /Opn1sw -/- mice with proteasomal activity reporter mice (Ub G76V -GFP) did not reveal GFP accumulation in Opn1mw -/- /Opn1sw -/- cones eliminating impaired degradation of ubiquitinated proteins as stress factor contributing to cone loss. Our results demonstrate that AAV-mediated gene augmentation therapy can rescue cone structure and function in a mouse model with a congenital opsin deletion, but also emphasize the importance that early intervention is crucial for successful therapy.

Preeclampsia is a multisystem pregnancy disorder that is characterized by different degrees of placental malperfusion, with release of antiangiogenic factors into the circulation, leading to maternal vascular endothelial injury and high blood pressure. As a major cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide, once preeclampsia has been diagnosed, there are no curative treatments except for delivery. Lipids serve as ubiquitous and multifunctional metabolites that are integral and essential to many diverse functions on both a cellular and organismal level. Lipid metabolic abnormalities have emerged as potential risk factors for the development and progression of preeclampsia. This review comprehensively examines decades of discovery to illuminate the roles of lipids and dysregulation in the levels of various lipid classes in preeclampsia. In addition, the roles of lipids are summarized to further understand the pathogenic mechanisms of preeclampsia. Overall, the review highlights the promising potential of pathophysiology and lipid-targeting therapeutic strategies in preeclampsia.

The residues and abuse of antibiotics have seriously endangered ecological balance and human health; meanwhile, antibiotics determination is very difficult because of their low levels and multiple categories in complicated matrices. Appropriate sample pretreatment is usually imperative to enrich (ultra)trace antibiotics and eliminate matrix interference prior to chromatographic analysis. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) has become an ideal pretreatment technique owing to its simplicity, effectiveness, low-consumption, etc. In this work, an ultrasonic-assisted DLLME (UA-DLLME) was developed for the simultaneous extraction of seven sulfonamides (SAs) antibiotics in environmental water and seafood samples coupled with HPLC-DAD determination. Several parameters affecting UA-DLLME efficiency were systematically optimized, and consequently the SAs were separated and detected within 14.5 min. The obtained limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.7-7.8 μg/L and 2.4-26.0 μg/L for three water samples (seawater, aquaculture wastewater and lake water) and two seafood samples (pomfrets and shrimps). High recoveries (80.0-116.0%) with low relative standard deviations (0.1-8.1%) were achieved for all the tested samples at three spiked levels. Notably, sulfadimethoxine was found at 24.49 μg/L in one seawater sample. The facile, robust and benign DLLME-HPLC method demonstrated promising perspectives for multiresidue analysis of antibiotics.

SignificanceStudies in multiple experimental systems have demonstrated that an increase in proteolytic capacity of post-mitotic cells improves cellular resistance to a variety of stressors, delays cellular aging and senescence. Therefore, approaches to increase the ability of cells to degrade misfolded proteins could potentially be applied to the treatment of a broad spectrum of human disorders. An example would be retinal degenerations, which cause irreversible loss of vision and are linked to impaired protein degradation. This study suggests that chronic activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway in degenerating photoreceptor neurons could stimulate the degradation of ubiquitinated proteins and enhance proteasomal activity through phosphorylation.

Perillaldehyde (PAH), one of the active ingredients of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) plant Perilla frutescen s, is widely used and exerts crucial anti-cancer activities. The aim of current study is to illustrate the potential mechanisms of PAH-mediated regulation of bone metastasis and osteoclastogenesis in prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines. Effects of PAH on proliferation, invasion and migration of PC-3 cells were assessed with the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and Transwell assays, respectively. Effects of PAH on stem cell characteristics of PC-3 cells were evaluated by cell-matrix adhesion assay, colony formation assay, spheroid formation assay, as well as western blot . The anti-metastasis and anti-osteoclastogenesis activity of PAH in RAW264.7 cells was examined by osteoclast differentiation assay and western blot. The protein levels of CD133 and CD44 in PC-3 cells and the activity of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway in RAW264.7 cells were measured by western blot. PAH suppressed proliferation, invasion and migration of PC-3 cells, prevented stem cell characteristics including cell-matrix adhesion, colony formation, spheroid formation as well as CD133 and CD44 expression. PAH inhibited bone metastasis and osteoclastogenesis via repressing the activation of NF-κB pathway as well as (RANKL) - and cancer cell-induced osteoclastogenesis in PCa cells. These findings suggested the potential therapeutic effects of PAH on the metastasis of patients with PCa.

Petroleum-based plastics (PBP) with different properties have been developed to suit various needs of modern lives. Nevertheless, these well-developed properties also present the double-edged sword effect that significantly threatens the sustainability of the environment. This work focuses on the impact of microbial cultivating conditions (the elementary compositions and temperature) to provide insightful information for the process optimization of microbial degradation. The major elementary compositions in cultivation media and temperature from the literature were radically reviewed and assessed using the constructed supervised machine learning algorithm. Fifty-two literatures were collected as a training dataset to investigate the impact of major chemical elements and cultivation temperature upon PBP biodegradation. Among six singular parameters (NH 4 + , K + , PO 4 3- , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , and temperature) and thirty corresponding binary parameters, four singular (NH 4 + , K + , PO 4 3- , and Mg 2+ ) and six binary parameters (NH 4 + /K + , NH 4 + /PO 4 3- , NH 4 + /Ca 2+ , K + /PO 4 3- , PO 4 3- /Mg 2+ , Mg 2+ /Temp) were identified as statistically significant towards microbial degradation through analysis of variance (ANOVA). The binary effect (PO 4 3- /Mg 2+ ) is found to be the most statistically significant towards the microbial degradation of PBP. The concentration range, which locates at 0.1-0.6 g/L for Mg 2+ and 0-2.8 g/L for PO 4 3- , was identified to contribute to the maximum PBP biodegradation. Among all the investigated elements, Mg 2+ is the only element that is statistically and significantly associated with the variations of cultivation temperature. The optimal preparation conditions within ± 20% uncertainties based upon the range of collected literature reports are recommended. Five representative cultivation elementary compositions (NH 4 + , K + , PO 4 3- , Mg 2+ , and Ca 2+ ) and temperature were reviewed from fifty two different literature reports to investigate their impacts on the microbial degradation of PBP using supervised machine learning algorithm. The optimal cultivation conditions based upon collected literature reports to achieve biodegradation over 80% were identified., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious risk to the health of pregnant women and fetuses during pregnancy, and there is no effective treatment for this condition. Although many reports have confirmed the therapeutic effects of peptides in diseases, the role of peptides in PE remains poorly understood. Methods: A differentially expressed peptide in PE (AEDPPE) is derived from heat-shock protein beta-1 (HSPB1), amino acids 100 to 109 (DVNHFAPDEL), which we identified in a previous study. We synthesized AEDPPE and investigated its effect on HTR-8/SVneo cell function using a Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometric assay, and Transwell and wound-healing assays. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and ELISA were used to determine cytokine expression. Pull-down assay, mass spectrometry, Western blot analysis, and immunofluorescence were used to explore the potential targets and signaling pathways regulated by AEDPPE. Finally, we assessed the effect of AEDPPE in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PE-like rat model. Results: AEDPPE significantly promoted the migration and invasion of HTR-8/SVneo cells, and it decreased the expression of interleukins 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin 8 (IL-8). These functions performed by AEDPPE remained evident after injury to HTR-8/SVneo cells with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and AEDPPE reversed the elevated sFlt-1/PlGF ratio induced by TNF-α. AEDPPE may exert these biological effects by binding to heat-shock protein 90β (HSP 90β) and, thus, affect the NF-κB signaling pathway. In an LPS-induced PE-like rat model, AEDPPE significantly improved PE symptoms and fetal rat outcomes. Conclusion: Our study showed that AEDPPE enhanced trophoblast migration and invasion and reduced inflammatory cytokine expression, and we hypothesized that these actions involved the NF-κB signaling pathway. The use of AEDPPE may thus develop into a novel modality in the treatment of PE., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wang, Cao, Ji, Li, Xue, Li, Jia and Ding.)

Three modeling techniques, namely, a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), a comprehensive kinetic with genetic algorithm (CKGA), and a response surface methodology (RSM), were used to study the kinetics of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. Using a 29 × 37 (4 independent process parameters as inputs and corresponding 36 responses as outputs) matrix with total 1073 data sets for data training through RBFNN, the established model is capable of predicting hydrocarbon product distribution i.e., the paraffin formation rate (C 2 -C 15 ) and the olefin to paraffin ratio (OPR) within acceptable uncertainties. With additional validation data sets (15 × 36 matrix with total 540 data sets), the uncertainties of using three different models were compared and the outcomes were: RBFNN (±5% uncertainties), RSM (±10% uncertainties), and CKGA (±30% uncertainties), respectively. A new effective strategy for kinetic study of the complex FT synthesis is proposed: RBFNN is used for data matrix generation with a limited number of experimental data sets (due to its fast converge and less computation time), CKGA is used for mechanism selections by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) approach using a genetic algorithm to find out potential reaction pathways, and RSM is used for statistical analysis of the investigated data matrix (generated from RBFNN through central composite design) upon responses and subsequent singular/multiple optimizations. The proposed strategy is a very useful and practical tool in process engineering design and practice for the product distribution during FT synthesis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Bone metastasis is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with prostate cancer (PCa). This study is aimed at illustrating the mechanism of sweroside-mediated regulation in bone metastasis in PCa cells. Owing to the limitations of antitumor drugs in terms of their physical and chemical properties, making them into nanomaterials can effectively improve drug stability and bioavailability. Apoptosis was assessed with flow cytometry using the annexin V/propidium iodide binding assay; proteins, including p53, P21, Bcl-2, and Bax; and induction of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using colony formation assay, sphere formation assay, and the expression changes in CD133 and CD44, stem cell characteristics were assessed. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) activity was accessed by levels of the expression changes of EMT-related markers, vimentin and E-cadherin. Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was examined to detect the levels of the expression changes of snail and β-catenin. PC-3 cells were treated with lithium chloride (LiCl), which is an agonist of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and the levels of CD133, CD44, vimentin, E-cadherin, snail, and β-catenin were detected. T-cell factor/lymphocyte enhancer factor (TCF/LEF) activity in cells overexpressing β-catenin was used to detect the effects on β-catenin transcription, and the expression of c-myc, Cyclin D1, Survivin, and MMP-7 were used to detect Wnt downstream target genes. Our results suggest that sweroside induces apoptosis and intracellular ROS; upregulates apoptotic proteins; and suppresses proliferation, invasion, and migration, preventing stem cell characteristics, including sphere formation, colony formation, and CD133 and CD44 expressions. Furthermore, sweroside nanoparticles exerts inhibitory effects on β-catenin transcription by suppressing TTCF/LEF activity in cells overexpressing β-catenin and downregulation of the expression of Wnt downstream target genes, including c-myc, Cyclin D1, Survivin, and MMP-7. The potential therapeutic effect of sweroside nanoparticles on bone metastatis of PCa was suggested, by these findings.

The complex structure of the catalytic active phase, and surface-gas reaction networks have hindered understanding of the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) reaction mechanism by supported Na 2 WO 4 /SiO 2 catalysts. The present study demonstrates, with the aid of in situ Raman spectroscopy and chemical probe (H 2 -TPR, TAP and steady-state kinetics) experiments, that the long speculated crystalline Na 2 WO 4 active phase is unstable and melts under OCM reaction conditions, partially transforming to thermally stable surface Na-WO x sites. Kinetic analysis via temporal analysis of products (TAP) and steady-state OCM reaction studies demonstrate that (i) surface Na-WO x sites are responsible for selectively activating CH 4 to C 2 H x and over-oxidizing CH y to CO and (ii) molten Na 2 WO 4 phase is mainly responsible for over-oxidation of CH 4 to CO 2 and also assists in oxidative dehydrogenation of C 2 H 6 to C 2 H 4 . These new insights reveal the nature of catalytic active sites and resolve the OCM reaction mechanism over supported Na 2 WO 4 /SiO 2 catalysts., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objectives: This report aims to examine income-related inequalities in informal care among older people with functional limitations in China., Methods: Data are drawn from the 2005, 2008, 2011, and 2014 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. Erreygers concentration index, concentration index, and horizontal inequity index are used to examine inequalities in informal care. A random effects model is then used to investigate the relationship between household income and informal care., Results: There is no significant association between household income and the probability of receiving informal care. However, we observed a significant positive association between household income and hours of informal care received, indicating that those with higher household income receive more hours of informal care compared to those with lower household income. The degree of this inequality increases as the number of functional limitations increases., Discussion: Lower household income is associated with lower intensity of informal care received, particularly for older people with more functional limitations. Policies are required to support low-income older people with more functional limitations., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: The world is currently struggling with the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Dietary supplements (DSs) and herbal medicine provide a potentially convenient and accessible method for its recovery, but direct evidence is limited., Objective: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of DSs and herbs in patients with COVID-19., Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in multiple electronic English and Chinese databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving DSs or herbal medicine interventions on patients with COVID-19 from November 2019 to February 2021 were included. Data was extracted, summarized and critically examined., Results: Out of 9402 records identified in the initial search, twelve RCTs were included in this review. Risk of bias of these RCTs was deemed high. Most of the trials were of low methodologic quality. Nine studies showed herbal supplements were beneficial to the recovery of COVID-19 patients; zinc sulfate could shorten the duration of loss of smell but not total recovery from COVID-19. No severe adverse events were reported., Conclusion: Herbal supplements may help patients with COVID-19, zinc sulfate is likely to shorten the duration of olfactory dysfunction. DS therapy and herbal medicine appear to be safe and effective adjuvant therapies for patients with COVID-19. These results must be interpreted with caution due to the overall low quality of the included trials. More well-designed RCTs are needed in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We report a combined experimental/theoretical approach to studying heterogeneous gas/solid catalytic processes using low-pressure pulse response experiments achieving a controlled approach to equilibrium that combined with quantum mechanics (QM)-based computational analysis provides information needed to reconstruct the role of the different surface reaction steps. We demonstrate this approach using model catalysts for ammonia synthesis/decomposition. Polycrystalline iron and cobalt are studied via low-pressure TAP (temporal analysis of products) pulse response, with the results interpreted through reaction free energies calculated using QM on Fe-BCC(110), Fe-BCC(111), and Co-FCC(111) facets. In TAP experiments, simultaneous pulsing of ammonia and deuterium creates a condition where the participation of reactants and products can be distinguished in both forward and reverse reaction steps. This establishes a balance between competitive reactions for D* surface species that is used to observe the influence of steps leading to nitrogen formation as the nitrogen product remains far from equilibrium. The approach to equilibrium is further controlled by introducing delay timing between NH 3 and D 2 which allows time for surface reactions to evolve before being driven in the reverse direction from the gas phase. The resulting isotopic product distributions for NH 2 D, NHD 2 , and HD at different temperatures and delay times and NH 3 /D 2 pulsing order reveal the role of the N 2 formation barrier in controlling the surface concentration of NH x * species, as well as providing information on the surface lifetimes of key reaction intermediates. Conclusions derived for monometallic materials are used to interpret experimental results on a more complex and active CoFe bimetallic catalyst.

Surface impurities involving parasitic reactions and gas evolution contribute to the degradation of high Ni content LiNi x Mn y Co z O 2 (NMC) cathode materials. The transient kinetic technique of temporal analysis of products (TAP), density functional theory, and infrared spectroscopy have been used to study the formation of surface impurities on varying nickel content NMC materials (NMC811, NMC622, NMC532, NMC433, NMC111) in the presence of CO 2 and H 2 O. CO 2 reactivity on a clean surface as characterized by CO 2 conversion rate in the TAP reactor follows the order: NMC811 > NMC622 > NMC532 > NMC433 > NMC111. The capacity of CO 2 uptake follows a different order: NMC532 > NMC433 > NMC622 > NMC811 > NMC111. Moisture pretreatment slows down the direct CO 2 adsorption process and creates additional active sites for CO 2 adsorption. Electronic structure calculations predict that the (012) surface is more reactive than the (1014) surface for CO 2 and H 2 O adsorption. CO 2 adsorption leading to carbonate formation is exothermic with formation of ion pairs. The average CO 2 binding energies on the different materials follow the CO 2 reactivity order. Water hydroxylates the (012) surface and surface OH groups favor bicarbonate formation. Water creates more active sites for CO 2 adsorption on the (1014) surface due to hydrogen bonding. The composition of surface impurities formed in ambient air exposure is dependent on water concentration and the percentage of different crystal planes. Different surface reactivities suggest that battery performance degradation due to surface impurities can be mitigated by precise control of the dominant surfaces in NMC materials.

Arterial stiffness due to the vessel remodeling is closely linked to raised blood pressure, and its physiopathologic mechanism is still not fully understood. We here aimed to explore whether extracellular vesicle (EV) mediated intercellular communication between endothelium and smooth muscle cell contribute to the blood vessel remodeling under hypertension. We here revealed that the arterial endothelial cells robustly secreted EV, which in turn could be circulated and/or directly taken up by the subendothelial smooth muscle cells (SMC). Under hypertension, the EV secretion increased and the miRNA profile changed significantly mainly due to the raised mechanical force and subsequent enhanced reactive oxygen species generation. Among the miRNA cargos in the EV, miR-320d/423-5p were found increased most significantly. In vivo delivery of miR-320d/423-5p mimics via engineered EV increased their expression in arterial vessels, recapitulating the phenotype in hypertension. In contrast, therapeutic delivery of miR-320d/423-5p inhibitors via engineered EV alleviated the phenotype in spontaneous hypertension rat model. Together, we have found that the injured endothelium due to the raised mechanical force in hypertension contributes to the arterial wall remodeling via the secreted EV. Our study has not only provided novel insights on the mechanism of hypertension associated blood vessel wall remodeling, but also shed light on therapeutic intervention of hypertension associated vascular diseases., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are designed to mimic the specific binding principle of enzymes to substrates or antigens to antibodies, while holding several advantages such as structure predictability, recognition specificity, easy preparation, low cost, high physical robustness, and thermal stability. Therefore, they have been widely applied in many fields including sample preparation (pretreatment), sensing analysis (chemo/biosensors), biomedicine, and environment/food analysis. To date, several strategies were developed for MIPs preparation, aiming to simplify the preparation process and/or improve the properties of the polymers, greatly broadening its usability. The exploration in various advanced imprinting strategies and their combinational use has become a research hotspot in MIPs preparation, among which the fragment imprinting strategy and the dummy template imprinting strategy are especially favored. Fragment imprinting, also called segment imprinting, uses a partial structure of the target molecule as a pseudo-template to prepare MIPs. This strategy is useful to target molecules that are not easy to obtain or that are too large to be used as templates, providing a feasible method for imprinting target analytes that are easy to inactivate or infect, as well as macromolecules that are difficult to imprint. In turn, dummy template imprinting uses molecules with structure, shape, and size similar to the target analytes as templates for imprinting. Because the target is not directly used as a template, this strategy can overcome problems of template leakage, as well as solve target molecule-related difficulties as they can be expensive, infectious, flammable, explosive, or chemically instable. This mini-review compiles information of several articles published in the last four years across ACS, Elsevier, RSC, and other databases, summarizing the most recent advances in the application of fragment/dummy template MIPs (FMIPs/DMIPs). Herein, the biomedical application of FMIPs is mainly addressed as a strategy for the detection of proteins and microorganisms, and the application of FMIPs in the field of food analysis is also explored. In recent years, the imprinting of mammalian cells has made some progress in the application of FMIPs. Mammalian cells, especially cancer cells, overexpress some proteins and sugars, which are good fragment templates. Consequently, the fragment imprinting strategy is widely used in cancer cell imaging, localization, and treatment. Moreover, due to the complicated structure and easy inactivation of some proteins, their MIPs are often prepared by fragment imprinting (also called epitope imprinting). As some microorganisms are infectious, imprinting microorganisms directly can pose a risk; therefore it is safer to also use the fragment imprinting strategy in such cases. The recent application of fragment imprinting strategy in other areas remains scarce. Nonetheless, three studies in the food analysis have explored this possibility. DMIPs are widely used in sample pretreatment and sensing analysis, and they are mainly used as SPE adsorbents for packed SPE, dispersive SPE (DSPE), magnetic SPE (MSPE), and matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) extraction. In addition, DMIPs are employed as molecularly imprinted membrane materials. As a result, by virtue of DMIPs, selective extraction and enrichment of target analytes from complicated samples can be achieved. MIP-based sensors can either recognize or transduce, meaning that they can specifically recognize and bind target analytes as well as generate output signals for detection. Because of the high selectivity of MIPs, the use of a dummy template imprinting strategy solves the problem of template leakage in the process of recognition and adsorption, further improving the detection accuracy and sensitivity of the sensor. These features expand the application range of MIP-based sensors. This review briefly overviews the construction and application of chemiluminescence and fluorescence sensors based on DMIPs. Lastly, the advantages and disadvantages, differences, and relationships among the two strategies are summarized. Despite of their potential, four main challenges still remain as major setbacks for the application of FMIPs and DMIPs: (i) the difficulty to select or prepare appropriate fragment templates and dummy templates; (ii) how to ensure that there is almost no difference in the recognition adsorption selectivity between the fragment/dummy template and the original template, so as to ensure optimal recognition specificity; (iii) the use of, environment-friendly reagents to reduce pollution during FMIPs/DMIPs preparation and use to conform with green chemistry requirements; (iv) how to strengthen the industrial and commercial applications of FMIPs and DMIPs. Therefore, significant efforts should be made to develop new imprinting strategies and techniques, as well as to adopt combinational imprinting approaches for FMIPs/DMIPs preparation to expedite the sustainable development and efficient application of FMIPs and DMIPs.

Introduction: There is a strong association between gestational obesity and fetal cardiac dysfunction, while the exact mechanisms remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of exosomes from maternal visceral adipose tissue in abnormal embryonic development in obese pregnancy., Methods: Female C57BL/6J obese mice were induced by a high-fat diet (containing 60% fat). Fetal cardiac function and morphology were examined by echocardiography and histology. The placenta was extracted for histological examination. miRNA expression in exosomes from the visceral adipose tissue was profiled by RNA-seq. Gene expression of inflammatory factors was analyzed by qPCR., Results: In the obese pregnant mice, there were obvious inflammation and lipid droplets in the placenta. And the fetal cardiac function in obese pregnancy was also compromised. Moreover, injection of the visceral adipose tissue exosomes from the obese mice significantly decreased the fetal cardiac function in the normal lean pregnant mice. Mechanistically, the decreased expression of miR-19b might be responsible for the enhanced inflammation in the placenta., Discussion: Exosomes derived from visceral adipose tissue in obese mice contribute to fetal heart dysfunction, at least partially via affecting the function of the placenta., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fusarium graminearum is the main pathogen of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in wheat and related species, which causes serious production decreases and economic losses and produces toxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON), which endangers the health of humans and livestock. Vesicle transport is a basic physiological process required for cell survival in eukaryotes. Many regulators of vesicle transport are reported to be involved in the pathogenicity of fungi. In yeast and mammalian cells, the ADP-ribosylation factor-like small GTPase Arl1 and its orthologs are involved in regulating vesicular trafficking, cytoskeletal reorganization and other significant biological processes. However, the role of Arl1 in F. graminearum is not well understood. In this study, we characterized the Arl1-homologous protein FgArl1 in F. graminearum and showed that FgArl1 is located in the trans-Golgi apparatus. The deletion of FgARL1 resulted in a significant decrease in vegetative growth and pathogenicity. Further analyses of the ΔFgarl1 mutant revealed defects in the production of DON. Taken together, these results indicate that FgArl1 is important in the development and pathogenicity of F. graminearum., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and the writing of the paper., (Copyright © 2020 British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The estimation of yeast viability with B- and N-doped carbon dots (BN-CDs) was investigated in this paper. BN-CDs with a fluorescent quantum yield of 65.47% were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. The size distribution of BN-CDs was relatively narrow, with the majority falling within 7.5-8.5 nm, and they were mainly composed of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and boron. BN-CDs were shown to have strong and stable fluorescence. They exhibited excitation-independent photoluminescence property, which could avoid the autofluorescence and limitation of the excitation source. Dead and live yeast cells were distinguished well by BN-CD staining in a short time, and there was no strict requirement for light protection. The application of BN-CDs in beer brewing can solve the problem of estimation of yeast viability.

Leptosphaeria maculans , the causal agent of blackleg of canola ( Brassica napus ), can be managed with pyraclostrobin and other strobilurin fungicides. Their frequent application, however, poses a risk for the development of insensitivity in fungal populations. A collection of L. maculans single-spore isolates recovered from infected canola stubble in Alberta, Canada, in 2016 was evaluated for its pyraclostrobin sensitivity. In conventional growth plate assays, the concentration of pyraclostrobin required to inhibit fungal growth by 50% (EC 50 ) was determined to be 0.28 mg/liter in a subset of 38 isolates. This EC 50 was four times greater than the mean EC 50 (0.07 mg/liter) of baseline isolates collected in 2011. Two hundred sixty-three isolates were screened further with two discriminatory doses of 0.28 and 3.5 mg/liter of pyraclostrobin, resulting in growth inhibition values ranging from 16 to 82% and 41 to 100%, respectively. In microtiter plate assays with the same isolates, the mean EC 50 was determined to be 0.0049 mg/liter, almost 3.3 times greater than the mean EC 50 (0.0015 mg/liter) of the baseline isolates. The sensitivity of the isolates was also evaluated in microtiter plate assays with discriminatory doses of 0.006 and 0.075 mg/liter of pyraclostrobin, resulting in inhibition values ranging from 20 to 88% and 49 to 100%, respectively. This is the first report of isolates of L. maculans with increased insensitivity to pyraclostrobin in Canada, suggesting the need for improved fungicide stewardship.

Self-assembly of viral coating proteins encapsulating functional nanoparticles provides a new class of biomaterials with robust chemical and physical properties for potential applications in functional imaging, and therapeutic or diagnostic agent delivery. Herein, a straightforward method is demonstrated for efficient encapsidation of magnetic nanoparticles into the engineered virus-like particle (VLP) through the affinity of histidine tags for the nickel- nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) chelate. Monodispersed, uniformly sized, magnetic core-containing VLPs are obtained at high efficiency (>85%) and used as the cellular T2 contrast agents for MR imaging applications thanks to their biocompatibility, higher cellular uptake, as well as higher r2 values., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

To develop effective learning algorithms for continuous prediction of cursor movement using EEG signals is a challenging research issue in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI). To train a classifier for continuous prediction, trials in training dataset are first divided into segments. The difficulty is that the actual intention (label) at each time interval (segment) is unknown. In this paper, we propose a novel statistical approach under Bayesian learning framework to learn the parameters of a classifier. To make use of all the training dataset, we iteratively estimate probability of the unknown label, and use this probability to assist the training process. Experimental results have shown that the performance of the proposed method is equal to or better than the best results so far.