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WT-C: wild-type control; KO-C: Orai3 KO control; WT-G: wild-type galactose; KO-G: Orai3 KO galactose. WT-C: wild-type control; KO-C: Orai3 KO control; WT-D: wild-type diabetes; KO-D: Orai3 KO diabetes. [Extracted from the article]

In early studies, it was shown that HINT2, which sensitizes cells to mitochondrial apoptosis, is down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (Martin et al., 2006). However, the molecular mechanism of this effect is unknown. Immunohistochemistry revealed that HINT2 expression is relatively low in pancreatic cancer tissues, compared to that in adjacent tissues (P < 0.05). Furthermore, its expression was related to pathological grade and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.0161 and 0.0108, respectively); in addition, down-regulation of HINT2 was found to be associated with relatively poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. Up-regulation of HINT2 was shown to trigger pancreatic cancer cell apoptosis, decrease mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), promote intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and elevate mitochondrial Ca2+ levels. However, co-treatment of HINT2 overexpressing BxPC-3 cells with ruthenium red partially inhibited HINT2-induced apoptosis, which was associated with a reduction in ΔΨm and an increase in intracellular ROS and mitochondrial Ca2+. According to our results, mitochondrial calcium uptake1 and 2 (MICU1 and MICU2) were down-regulated and the essential MCU regulator (EMRE) was up-regulated in cells transduced with Adv-HINT2. Therefore, we deduced that HINT2 triggers apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells by regulating mitochondrial Ca2+ influx through the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU). In addition, we found that HINT2 can sensitize BxPC-3 and L3.6pl cells to gemcitabine-induced apoptosis and that gemcitabine up-regulates HINT2 expression. This indicates that gemcitabine-induced apoptosis is related to HINT2 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of Ti/SiO[sub 2] structure at elevated temperatures has been studied by measuring the sheet resistance as a function of annealing temperature for different initial Ti thicknesses. A sheet resistance model has been developed to account for the effects of the thickness and resistivity variations of the reaction products [Ti(O) and Ti[sub 5]Si[sub 3]]. The simulated sheet resistance values varying with the Ti[sub 5]Si[sub 3] thickness are in good agreement with the general trend as obtained from the experimental measurements for different initial Ti thicknesses. The approach used in modeling can be applied to other thin film structures with similar reaction mechanism to simulate the overall sheet resistance variation. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity are independent risk factors for sarcopenia for long-term care facility residents. Understanding the components, mechanisms and context of interventions that target change in these risk factors can help optimize sarcopenia management approaches. This study aimed to identify, appraise and synthesize the interventions targeting sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity, construct a Theory of Change logic model, inform complex sarcopenia intervention development and identify areas for improvement., Methods: Eight electronic databases, including Embase and Web of Science, were searched for eligible interventional studies from inception until February 2024. Narrative synthesis was used. The Theory of Change was applied to develop a logic model presenting the synthesized results. A Cochrane risk of bias assessment tool was used for quality appraisal., Results: The study included 21 articles involving 1014 participants, with mean ages ranging from 72.5 to 90.4 years. The proportion of female participants ranged from 8.0% to 100.0%. The applied sarcopenia diagnosis criteria varied, including those of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia and the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People. The overall risk of bias in the included studies was moderate. Interventions primarily targeted physical inactivity, with resistance training being the most common intervention type. The reporting of intervention adherence was insufficient (only 11 out of 21 included studies provided adherence reports), and adherence overall and by intervention type was not possible to discern due to inconsistent criteria for high adherence across these studies. Four categories of intervention input were identified: educational resources; exercise equipment and accessories; monitoring and tailoring tools; and motivational strategies. Intervention activities fell into five categories: determining the intervention plan; educating; tailoring; organizing, supervising, assisting and motivating; and monitoring. While sarcopenia-related indicators were commonly used as desired outcomes, intermediate outcomes (i.e., sedentary time and physical activity level) and other long-term outcomes (i.e., economic outcomes) were less considered. Contextual factors affecting intervention use included participant characteristics (i.e., medical condition and education level) and intervention provider characteristics (i.e., trustworthiness)., Conclusions: The findings led to the development of a novel logic model detailing essential components for interventions aimed at managing sarcopenia in long-term care facilities, with a focus on addressing sedentary behaviour and physical inactivity. Future sarcopenia interventions in long-term care facilities should fully attend to sedentary behaviour, enhance adherence to interventions through improved education, monitoring, tailoring and motivation and establish an agreed standard set of outcome measures., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

The thyroid surgery with lateral cervical incision uses the sternocleidomastoid intermuscular approach through the gap between band muscles and carotid sheath to reach the surgical field. The recurrent laryngeal nerve and upper and lower parathyroid glands are first identified, the upper pole vessels are severed; then the Berry ligament is separated; the isthmus is severed, and the thyroid gland is finally removed. This approach can avoid the trauma of the skin and muscle tissue in the anterior neck region, to relieve the pressure on the neck and swallowing stretch feeling for patients after surgery. The surgical modality is effective and less time-consuming. This article gives a detailed introduction to the standardized procedures and some key points of thyroid surgery with lateral cervical incision.

Cherry (Prunus avium) has become an important economical fruit in China. In October 2020, a leaf spot disease was found on cherry in the orchard of Taizhou Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Zhejiang, China. The symptoms appeared as small, water-soaked spots on the leaves, which later became larger, dark brown, and necrotic lesions of 1 cm to 3 cm in width, 4 cm to 8 cm in length. Disease incidences of approximately 60% of the leaves were observed by sampling five locations. To isolate the causing agent, small fragments from five target symptomatic leaves were surface-sterilized with 1.0% sodium hypochlorite solution for 1 min and then rinsed three times with sterilized water. Afterwards the leaf fragments were air-dried, plated onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and incubated at 25 ℃ in the dark for 2 days. The pure cultures were obtained by transferring hyphal plug of 2 mm in diameter onto PDA, which followed single spore isolation. The colony morphology showed light to dark gray, cottony mycelium, with the underside of the culture became brownish after 7 days. Conidia (n = 28) were hyaline, smooth-walled, cylindrical, aseptate, broadly rounded ends, and average size around 3.84 × 12.82 μm (2.99 to 4.87 × 10.27 to 15.68 μm). Appressoria (n = 27) were mostly brown, ovoid and slightly irregular in shape, and average size around 8.04 × 9.68 μm (6.29 to 9.67 × 9.32 to 12.06 μm). Perithecia average size is 106.25 μm, textura angularis, thick-walled. Asci 26.35-49.18 × 5.00-12.03 μm (average size 37.44 × 7.80 μm, n = 17), unitunicate, thin-walled, clavate or cymbiform. Ascospores 13.69-20.93 × 3.86-6.69 μm (average size 16.00 × 5.42 μm, n = 30), one-celled, hyaline, one or two large guttulate at the centre, slightly rounded ends. The morphological characteristics matched well with previous descriptions of Colletotrichum species of C. gloeosporioides species complex, including C. fructicola (Prihastuti et al. 2009; Fu et al. 2019). The identity of two representative isolates (cf2-3 and cf4-4) from different leaves was confirmed by means of multi-locus gene sequencing. To this end, genomic DNA was extracted by the Plant Direct PCR kit (Vazyme Biotech Co., Ltd, China). Molecular identification was conducted by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA region, partial glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene, partial actin (ACT) gene, partial beta-tubulin 2 gene (TUB2), and partial chitin synthase gene (CHS). The obtained sequences have been deposited in GenBank under accession numbers MW581851 and MW581852 (ITS), MW590586 and MW590587 (GAPDH), MW616561 and MW616562 (ACT), MW729380 and MW729381 (TUB2), MW729378 and MW729379 (CHS). The results of Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) analysis revealed that the ITS, GAPDH, ACT, TUB2 and CHS sequences of both isolates matched with 100% identity to Colletotrichum fructicola culture collection sequences in GenBank database (JX010165, JX009998, JX009491, JX010405, and JX009866 respectively). These morphological characteristics and molecular analyses allowed the identification of the pathogen as C. fructicola. Koch's postulates were performed with healthy detached cherry leaves of cultivar namely 'HongMi' from Taizhou Academy of Agriculture Sciences. Surface-sterilized leaves were inoculated with five-day-old cultures of C. fructicola mycelial discs of 2 mm in diameter after being wounded with a needle or non-wounded. Control leaves were inoculated with discs of same size PDA agar. Treated leaves were incubated at 25 ℃ in the dark at high relative humidity. Anthracnose symptoms appeared within 3 days both on non-wounded and wounded inoculation approaches. Mock-inoculated controls remained asymptomatic. Biological repetitions were carried out three times. The fungus was reisolated from infected leaves and confirmed as C. fructicola following the methods described above. Until recently, it has been found that C. fructicola can infect tea, apple, pear, Pouteria campechiana in China (Fu et al. 2014; Li et al. 2013; Shi et al. 2018; Yang et al. 2020). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of C. fructicola on cherry in China.

By employing noncovalent interactions, chemists have constructed a variety of molecular aggregates with well-defined structures and fascinating properties. In fabricating stable and large molecular assemblies, noncovalent interactions with high binding strength are needed. This Concept summarizes some strategies to modify and optimize the structures of building blocks for making weak noncovalent interactions stronger. The strategies include: 1) Preorganization of binding sites; 2) spatial confinement effects; 3) multivalent enhancement; 4) synergistic binding with multiple forces. Examples of the fabrication of supramolecular architectures by utilizing these strategies are presented and discussed. Guidance is offered in the construction and fabrication of stable molecular assemblies and supramolecular materials., (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

The clinical importance of intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN) of the pancreas has been increasing due to the large number of newly diagnosed cases. A meta-analysis was used to assess the accuracy of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) for the identification of malignant and invasive IPMN. A literature search of PubMed and Web of Knowledge was conducted. Studies included in the analysis addressed the diagnostic accuracy of serum CEA and CA19-9 and pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, positive- and negative-likelihood ratios (PLR and NLR), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated using random-effects models. Predefined subgroup analysis was performed. Fifteen studies (published between 2001 and 2013) were analyzed, including a total of 1,629 patients. Pooled estimates of CEA in malignant and invasive IPNM prediction were: Pooled sensitivity, 18 and 18%; pooled specificity, 93 and 95%; PLR, 2.83 and 3.54; NLR, 0.89 and 0.89; and DOR, 3.35 and 3.6, respectively. Pooled estimates of CA19-9 in malignant and invasive IPMN prediction were: Pooled sensitivity, 40 and 52%; pooled specificity, 89 and 88%; PLR, 2.93 and 3.78; NLR, 0.74 and 0.6; and DOR, 4.34 and 6.33, respectively. In conclusion, serum CEA has low sensitivity and high specificity for malignant and invasive IPMN. Serum CA19-9 is a useful non-invasive preoperative tool for differentiating between invasive and benign IPMN and should be taken into account in the decision to perform surgery.