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To describe the status of return to work and identify predictors of return to work among Chinese postoperative patients with colorectal cancer.A cross-sectional study.Conducted in two tertiary hospitals in China.A total of 210 postoperative patients with colorectal cancer were included in the study.Two hundred and ten postoperative patients with colorectal cancer who were working at the time of their diagnosis were assessed with the Perceived Social Support Scale, the Return-To-Work Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, Cancer Fatigue Scale, and Social Impact Scale. Descriptive statistics, univariate logistic regression analysis, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis in SPSS 26.0.Around a third of participants (n = 74, 35.2%) returned to work after surgery. Multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that more family income (odds ratio (OR) = 5.769, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.666–19.972), time span after surgery 5–10 months, and ≥10 months (OR = 3.546, 95% CI = 1.084–11.598; OR = 3.077, 95% CI = 1.074–8.818), with a stoma (OR = 0.221, 95% CI = 0.075–0.653), psychological distress (OR = 0.912, 95% CI = 0.843–0.987), cancer fatigue (OR = 0.924, 95% CI = 0.872–0.978), and stigma (OR = 0.928, 95% CI = 0.886–0.971) were significantly associated with return to work.A high proportion of patients with colorectal cancer did not return to work within 1 year after diagnosis. Those with shorter postoperative time, lower family income, stoma, greater psychological stress, higher level of cancer fatigue, and more stigma may have a higher risk in delayed work resumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lupus nephritis (LN), a complex complication of systemic lupus erythematosus, requires in-depth cellular and molecular analysis for advanced treatment strategies, including mRNA vaccine development. In this study, we analyzed single-cell RNA sequencing data from 24 LN patients and 10 healthy controls, supplemented by bulk RNA-seq data from additional LN patients and controls. By applying non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), we identified four distinct leukocyte meta-programs in LN, highlighting diverse immune functions and potential mRNA vaccine targets. Utilizing 12 machine learning algorithms, we developed 417 predictive models incorporating gene sets linked to key biological pathways, such as MTOR signaling, autophagy, Toll-like receptor, and adaptive immunity pathways. These models were instrumental in identifying potential targets for mRNA vaccine development. Our functional network analysis further revealed intricate gene interactions, providing novel insights into the molecular basis of LN. Additionally, we validated the mRNA expression levels of potential vaccine targets across multiple cohorts and correlated them with clinical parameters such as the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and pathological stage. This study represents a significant advance in LN research by merging single-cell genomics with the precision of NMF and machine learning, broadening our understanding of LN at the cellular and molecular levels. More importantly, our findings shed light on the development of targeted mRNA vaccines, offering new possibilities for diagnostics and therapeutics for this complex autoimmune disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Mou, Lu, Wu, Pu and Wang.)

Background: Islet transplantation is a promising treatment for type 1 diabetes that aims to restore insulin production and improve glucose control, but long-term graft survival remains a challenge due to immune rejection., Methods: ScRNA-seq data from syngeneic and allogeneic islet transplantation grafts were obtained from GSE198865. Seurat was used for filtering and clustering, and UMAP was used for dimension reduction. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed between syngeneic and allogeneic islet transplantation grafts. Gene set variation analysis (GSVA) was performed on the HALLMARK gene sets from MSigDB. Monocle 2 was used to reconstruct differentiation trajectories, and cytokine signature enrichment analysis was used to compare cytokine responses between syngeneic and allogeneic grafts., Results: Three distinct macrophage clusters (Mø-C1, Mø-C2, and Mø-C3) were identified, revealing complex interactions and regulatory mechanisms within macrophage populations. The significant activation of macrophages in allogeneic transplants was marked by the upregulation of allograft rejection-related genes and pathways involved in inflammatory and interferon responses. GSVA revealed eight pathways significantly upregulated in the Mø-C2 cluster. Trajectory analysis revealed that Mø-C3 serves as a common progenitor, branching into Mø-C1 and Mø-C2. Cytokine signature enrichment analysis revealed significant differences in cytokine responses, highlighting the distinct immunological environments created by syngeneic and allogeneic grafts., Conclusion: This study significantly advances the understanding of macrophage roles within the context of islet transplantation by revealing the interactions between immune pathways and cellular fate processes. The findings highlight potential therapeutic targets for enhancing graft survival and function, emphasizing the importance of understanding the immunological aspects of transplant acceptance and longevity., Competing Interests: Author ZC was employed by company BGI Medical Group. The remaining 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 © 2024 Pu, Chen, Lu, Wu, Cai and Mou.)

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a challenging condition with limited diagnostic and treatment options. In this study, we applied 12 distinct machine learning algorithms along with Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) to analyze single-cell datasets from kidney biopsies, aiming to provide a comprehensive profile of LN. Through this analysis, we identified various immune cell populations and their roles in LN progression and constructed 102 machine learning-based immune-related gene (IRG) predictive models. The most effective models demonstrated high predictive accuracy, evidenced by Area Under the Curve (AUC) values, and were further validated in external cohorts. These models highlight six hub IRGs ( CD14 , CYBB , IFNGR1 , IL1B , MSR1 , and PLAUR ) as key diagnostic markers for LN, showing remarkable diagnostic performance in both renal and peripheral blood cohorts, thus offering a novel approach for noninvasive LN diagnosis. Further clinical correlation analysis revealed that expressions of IFNGR1, PLAUR , and CYBB were negatively correlated with the glomerular filtration rate (GFR), while CYBB also positively correlated with proteinuria and serum creatinine levels, highlighting their roles in LN pathophysiology. Additionally, protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis revealed significant networks involving hub IRGs, emphasizing the importance of the interleukin family and chemokines in LN pathogenesis. This study highlights the potential of integrating advanced genomic tools and machine learning algorithms to improve diagnosis and personalize management of complex autoimmune diseases like LN., 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 © 2024 Mou, Lu, Wu, Pu, Huang and Wang.)

Rapid, sensitive, and accurate identification of pathogens is vital for preventing and controlling fish disease, reducing economic losses in aquaculture, and interrupting the spread of food-borne diseases in human populations. Herein, we proposed a hybridization chain reaction (HCR) cascaded dual-signal amplification platform for the ultrasensitive and specific detection of pathogenic microorganisms. A couple of specific primers for target bacterial 16S rRNAs were used to obtain amplified target single-stranded DNAs (AT-ssDNA). Then, AT-ssDNA initiated HCR amplification along with the opening of fluorophore (FAM) and a quencher (BHQ1) labeled hairpin reporter probe (H1), and the FAM fluorescence signal recovered. The proposed strategy could achieve a detection limit down to 0.31 CFU/mL for Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), 0.49 CFU/mL for Escherichia coli (E. coli) in buffer, and a linear range from 1 to 1 × 10 6  CFU/mL for S. aureus, 1 to 1 × 10 7  CFU/mL for E. coli. Furthermore, this platform enabled sensitive and precise detection of pathogenic microorganisms in complex samples such as fish blood and different organ tissues (large intestine, gallbladder, heart, liver, ren, gill, skin), which shows great potential in disease prevention and control in aquatic products., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Aegopodium alpestre Ledeb ( A. alpestre ) is a plant known for its fragrant smell and has been traditionally used to treat influenza. However, despite its widespread use, there is no research on its flowering aerial parts. This study aims to contribute to the understanding the flowering aerial parts by investigating its volatile oil. The essential oil was extracted through hydrodistillation and analysed using GC-MS. The analysis identified 54 compounds, which accounted for 95.16% of the oil composition. The major components are germacrene D (31.68%), β -caryophyllene (16.07%), and ( E )- β -farnesene (7.99%). To evaluate the antioxidant activity of volatile oil, six antioxidant experiments were conducted. The results indicated that volatile oil exhibited significant 2,2'-azino- bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) diammonium salt and hydroxyl radical scavenging abilities. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of volatile oil was assessed against four common pathogenic bacteria. The findings demonstrated that volatile oil displayed potent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Aerogenic bacterium .

Background: According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (SC) is an important traditional Chinese medicine that can be used to treat diarrhea. Despite the increasing research on the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant aspects of SC, the studies on the anti-ulcerative colitis of Schisandrin (SCH), the main constituent of SC, are relatively few., Methods: The mice used in the study were randomly distributed into 6 groups: control, model, 5-ASA, and SCH (20, 40, 80 mg/kg/d). The mice in the model group were administered 3% (w/v) dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) through drinking water for 7 days, and the various parameters of disease activity index (DAI) such as body weight loss, stool consistency, and gross blood were measured. ELISA was used to detect inflammatory factors, and bioinformatics combined with transcriptome analysis was done to screen and verify relevant targets. 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the composition of the gut microbiota(GM), while mass spectrometry was done to analyze the changes in the content of bile acids (BAs) in the intestine., Results: Mice treated with SCH experienced significant weight gain, effectively alleviating the severity of colitis, and decreasing the levels of inflammatory factors such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-18, IL-6, and other related proteins (NLRP3, Caspase-1, SGK1) in UC mice. Furthermore, the analysis of GM and BAs in mice revealed that SCH increased the relative abundance of Lactobacilli spp, reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroides, and promoted the conversion of primary BAs to secondary BAs. These effects contributed to a significant improvement in the DSS-induced GM imbalance and the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis., Conclusion: It seems that there is a close relationship between the SCH mechanism and the regulation of SGK1/NLRP3 pathway and the restoration of GM balance. Therefore, it can be concluded that SCH could be a potential drug for the treatment of UC., (© 2023. International Society for Chinese Medicine and BioMed Central Ltd.)

Objective: The relationship between excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and cognitive performance of older adults remains unclear, especially when a healthy lifestyle is considered. The study aimed to explore the association between EDS in passive and active situations and general cognitive function among community-dwelling older adults., Methods: Two hundred and seventy-one older adults aged 60 and above were recruited from the community cohort in Shangrao. All study participants were free of depression and dementia. The Chinese version of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (CESS) was used to evaluate EDS. Using the item scores of CESS, the presence of EDS among all study participants were grouped as non-EDS, passive situation-related EDS (PSR-EDS), active situation-related EDS (ASR-EDS), and high sleep propensity (HSP). The Hong Kong Brief Cognitive Test (HKBC) was used to assess cognitive function. Chinese healthy lifestyle metrics were scored based on AHA Life Simple-7. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between the presence of EDS and cognitive function., Results: The PSR-EDS ( n = 29, 20.8 ± 5.3) and the HSP groups ( n = 21, 19.8 ± 4.8) scored lower with HKBC than in the non-EDS group ( n = 213, 23.2 ± 4.9). The subdomain performance of language in the HSP group was poorer than in the non-EDS group ( p s < 0.05). Relative to non-EDS, HSP (OR = 3.848, 95% CI = 1.398-10.591) was associated with an increased risk of poor cognitive performance after adjusting age, sex, education, and healthy lifestyle metrics., Conclusion: High propensity for excessive daytime sleepiness, irrespective of lifestyle, is associated with poorer cognitive performance among community-dwelling older adults. The findings may provide empirical evidence to support sleepiness intervention for reducing the risk of cognitive decline., 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 Wu, Wu, Xie, Lin, Fu, Zhu, Qi and Wang.)

Objective: To systematically synthesize research evidence on barriers and facilitators to pressure injury prevention in hospital settings., Methods: A systematic literature review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research was undertaken using PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library. Studies that reported barriers or/and facilitators to pressure injury prevention in the acute care settings and published in English from 2008 to 2022 were included. Studies were excluded if they were conducted in residential care facilities and nursing homes, or other long-term community care settings. Two authors independently screened articles against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality appraisal was conducted by two authors by using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Reported results were mapped to the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify the barriers and facilitators to pressure injury prevention., Results: A total of 78 studies were included. There were 65 quantitative studies, 11 qualitative studies, and two mix-methods studies. The most salient Theoretical Domains Framework domains identified in this review were "Knowledge", "Skills", "Environmental Context and Resources", "Optimism", "Social/Professional Role and Identity", and "Social influences"., Conclusion: The barriers and facilitators to pressure injury prevention in hospital settings identified in this systematic review were diverse, and included issues at both individual and organizational level. Healthcare organizations can address the barriers and facilitators from the influential Theoretical Domains Framework domains. Future research is required to investigate the effectiveness of behaviour change interventions that specifically target these barriers and facilitators to pressure injury prevention., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 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., (Copyright © 2023 Tissue Viability Society / Society of Tissue Viability. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

New satellite remote sensing and machine learning techniques offer untapped possibilities to monitor global biodiversity with unprecedented speed and precision. These efficiencies promise to reveal novel ecological insights at spatial scales which are germane to the management of populations and entire ecosystems. Here, we present a robust transferable deep learning pipeline to automatically locate and count large herds of migratory ungulates (wildebeest and zebra) in the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem using fine-resolution (38-50 cm) satellite imagery. The results achieve accurate detection of nearly 500,000 individuals across thousands of square kilometers and multiple habitat types, with an overall F1-score of 84.75% (Precision: 87.85%, Recall: 81.86%). This research demonstrates the capability of satellite remote sensing and machine learning techniques to automatically and accurately count very large populations of terrestrial mammals across a highly heterogeneous landscape. We also discuss the potential for satellite-derived species detections to advance basic understanding of animal behavior and ecology., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Complications such as cognitive impairment are common in stroke victims. The goal of this study was to see if there was a link between blood iron levels and post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) within 2 weeks after stroke., Methods: A total of 313 patients with ischemic stroke were recruited and separated into two groups: PSCI (n = 202) and non-PSCI (n = 111). The Mini-mental state examination scale was used to evaluate the cognitive status within 2 weeks after stroke (acute phase). The serum iron levels were divided into 4 layers: Q1 ≤ 11.7 μmol/L, Q2 11.8-15.1 μmol/, Q3 15.2-19.3 μmol/L, Q4 ≥ 19.4 μmol/L, respectively. The connection between serum iron and PSCI was then investigated further using binary logistic regression, which was adjusted for confounders., Results: The difference in serum iron levels between the PSCI and non-PSCI group was initially conducted by the Mann-Whitney test, and a significant difference was found (14.5 (11.0-17.8) vs. 16.9 (13.7-21.8), p < .001), with no confounders being adjusted. After adjusting for confounding factors, the binary regression analysis showed that the Q4 layer showed the lowest risk of PSCI, with the Q1 layer being the reference. (odds ratio (OR) = 0.297, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.136-0.649, p = 0.002)., Conclusion: A decreased risk of early-onset PSCI was linked to high serum iron levels. Low serum iron levels were found to be a risk factor for acute cognitive impairment following stroke, which could help physicians identify and take intervention measures early to reduce the risk of cognitive impairment after stroke.

Negative capacitance (NC) is now an attractive research topic owing to its potential applications. For better integration, investigation about the phenomenon and mechanism of NC in ferroelectric materials on semiconductor substrates is important. In this work, ferroelectric BaTiO 3 (BTO) films are deposited on the low-resistance Si(100) substrates to constitute Pt/BTO/p-Si/Pt samples with the metal/ferroelectric/semiconductor/metal (MFSM) structure, on which NC are directly measured at low frequencies with a large DC bias. Because of the unique asymmetric interface, the NC value is tunable by the polarity and magnitude of the DC bias. Analysis based on the impedance and ferroelectric characteristics reveals that, in addition to the displacement current related to the electric polarization, there is also relaxation current caused by interface charge injection and oxygen vacancy migration. This work provides another idea for studying miniaturized and low-energy devices utilizing NC, which is of great significance for the development of silicon-based ferroelectric devices.

Background: The HALP score (hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet) is a novel indicator that measures systemic inflammation and nutritional status. The goal of this study was to look into the relationship between the HALP score and post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) in people who had an acute ischemic stroke (AIS)., Methods: A total of 592 individuals with ischemic stroke were included in the research, and the PSCI (n = 382) and non-PSCI (n = 210) groups were determined using the Mini-Mental State Examination scale 2 weeks following the stroke. HALP score was computed by the formula: hemoglobin (g/L) × albumin (g/L) × lymphocytes (/L) / platelets (/L), and was split into three layers according to the tertiles. The connection between the HALP and cognitive results was investigated by binary logistic regression., Results: The PSCI group's HALP score was much lower than the non-PSCI group's (p < 0.001). The HALP score was divided into three layers: T1 ≤ 34.0, T2 34.1-49.4, and T3 ≥ 49.5, respectively. In the binary regression analysis, taking the T3 layer as the reference, the T1 layer showed the highest risk of PSCI after adjusting for confounding factors (odds ratio (OR) = 1.965, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.237-3.122, p = 0.004), while there was no increased risk of PSCI in the T2 layer (OR = 1.538, 95%CI = 0.983-2.404, p = 0.059)., Conclusion: Low HALP score at admission was found to be correlated with early-onset PSCI and may help clinicians in the early identification of high-risk patients., (© 2022. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.)

Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is the most prevalent complication of acute ischemic stroke(AIS) in individuals. The lactate dehydrogenase-to albumin ratio (LAR) is a novel indicator that measures systemic inflammation and nutritional status. The purpose of this research was to investigate the connection between the LAR and PSCI., Methods: Following inclusion criteria, this study recruited 701 AIS patients who were segmented into the PSCI (n = 441) and non-PSCI (n = 260) groups according to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) within 2 weeks after stroke. The lactate dehydrogenase and albumin levels were measured within 24 h after hospitalization. A binary logistic regression was constructed to examine the association between LAR and PSCI with the LAR divided into tertiles., Results: The PSCI group showed a higher level of LAR in comparison to the non-PSCI group (p < 0.001). Compared with T1 (≦4.93), patients in the highest quartile of LAR (≧5.93) had a greater risk of PSCI after controlling for confounding factors, as demonstrated by logistic regression (odds ratio (OR) = 2.003, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.305-3.074, P = 0.001)., Conclusion: Higher LAR is independently related to the development of cognitive impairment in the early phase after stroke, which may help physicians in the early identification of patients with PSCI., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest 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., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: The present study aimed to systematically analyze the risk factors for RBD., Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies, cohort studies, and cross-sectional studies derived from the articles published in eight electronic databases before December 1, 2021. The primary outcome was the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI), and heterogeneity was quantified using I 2 . Subgroup analyses and meta-regression were used to explore sources of heterogeneity. Egger's test and sensitivity analysis were performed. The PROSPERO ID number of the present study is CRD42021293942., Results: We identified 26 studies (44,230 subjects) among 2022 citations, and 13 factors were considered. Male sex (OR = 1.36, 95% CI = 1.13-1.64), smoking (OR = 1.37, 95% CI: 1.26-1.50), depression (OR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.66-2.56), antidepressant use (OR = 2.36, 95% CI = 1.98-2.82), duration of neuropsychiatric disorders(OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.13-1.73), levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD, OR = 60.15, 95% CI = 23.95-96.35) and observable motor dysfunction (OR = 2.43, 95% CI = 0.65-4.22) were associated with a higher risk of RBD. Tertiary education and above (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.35-0.96) was associated with a lower RBD risk. Men (OR = 1.40, 95% CI: 1.10-1.78, I 2  = 0%, P = 0.005) and older individual (OR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.03-4.43, I 2  = 60%, P = 0.002) were more likely to have iRBD., Conclusion: Six modifiable risk factors and one protective factor were associated with RBD. Further research is required to understand the mechanisms and to develop preventative strategies., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Background: The aim of the present work was to cross-culturally adapt the Postpartum Depression Literacy Scale (PoDLiS) and use a descriptive cross-sectional design to evaluate its psychometric properties in Chinese perinatal women., Methods: Brislin's translation theory was applied to translate the PoDLiS, with subsequent cultural adaptation. The reliability and validity of the PoDLiS were determined using a questionnaire in 635 Chinese perinatal women., Results: Good internal consistency was found (omega coefficient, 0.894) for the Chinese version of the Postpartum Depression Literacy Scale (PoDLiS-C), with omega coefficients of the six dimensions of 0.865, 0.870, 0.838, 0.777, 0.837 and 0.794, and a test-retest reliability coefficient of 0.874. The item-level content validity index (CVI) ranged from 0.8 to 1 while the scale-level CVI was 0.968. Moreover, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) determined satisfactory construct validity of the PoDLiS-C, with the six-factor model explaining 60.76% of the total variance, demonstrating good model fit (likelihood ratio χ 2 /df, 1.003; goodness-of-fit index, 0.916; adjusted goodness-of-fit index, 0.901; comparative fit index, 0.999; incremental fit index, 0.999; root mean square error of approximation, 0.003; and standardized root mean square error of approximation, 0.0478)., Conclusions: The PoDLiS-C has adequate psychometric properties. This tool could be used to assess the postpartum depression literacy of perinatal women in Chinese-speaking populations., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most malignant and poor-prognosis subtype of primary liver cancer. The scRNA-seq approach provides unique insight into tumor cell behavior at the single-cell level. Cytokine signaling in the immune system plays an important role in tumorigenesis and has both pro-tumorigenic and anti-tumorigenic functions. A biomarker of cytokine signaling in immune-related genes (CSIRG) is urgently required to assess HCC patient diagnosis and treatment. By analyzing the expression profiles of HCC single cells, TCGA, and ICGC data, we discovered that three important CSIRG ( PPIA , SQSTM1 , and CCL20 ) were linked to the overall survival of HCC patients. Cancer status and three hub CSIRG were taken into account while creating a risk nomogram. The nomogram had a high level of predictability and accuracy. Based on the CSIRG risk score, a distinct pattern of somatic tumor mutational burden (TMB) was detected between the two groups. The enrichment of the pyrimidine metabolism pathway, purine metabolism pathway, and lysosome pathway in HCC was linked to the CSIRG high-risk scores. Overall, scRNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq were used to create a strong CSIRG signature for HCC diagnosis.

Islet transplantation to treat the late stage of type 1 diabetic patient (T1DM) has recently made inspiring success in clinical trials. However, most patients experience a decline in islet graft function in one to three years due to immune rejection. Although the mechanisms of immune cells, including macrophages, dendritic cells (DCs), neutrophils, natural killer cells (NKs), B cells, and T cells, that mediate immune rejection have been investigated, the overall characteristics of immune infiltrates in islet allografts and syngeneic grafts remain unclear. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has provided us with new opportunities to study the complexity of the immune microenvironment in islet transplants. In the present study, we used scRNA-seq to comprehensively analyze the immune heterogeneity in the mouse model of islet transplantation. Our data revealed T lymphocytes and myeloid cells as the main immune components of grafts 7 days post-islet transplantation, especially in allografts. Moreover, our results indicated that allogeneic islet cells were transformed into antigen-presenting cell-like cells with highly expressed MHC class I molecules and genes involved in MHC class I-mediated antigen presentation. This transformation may dramatically facilitate the interaction with cytotoxic CD8 + T cells and promote the destruction of islet allografts. Our study provides insight into the transcriptomics and diverse microenvironment of islet grafts and their impacts on immune rejection., 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 Chen, Yao, Lu, Peng, Zhu, Deng, Wu, Chen, Deng, Li, Pu and Mou.)

Recently, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron has spread very quickly worldwide. Several studies have indicated that the Omicron variant causes a substantial evasion of the humoral immune response and the majority of existing SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. Here we address this challenge by applying a spherical cocktail neutralizing aptamer-gold nanoparticle (SNAP) to block the interaction of Omicron receptor binding domain (RBD) and host Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2). With the synergetic blocking strategy based on multivalent multisite aptamer binding and steric hindrance by the size-matched gold scaffold, the SNAP conjugate tightly binds to Omicron RBD with a dissociation constant of 13.6 pM, almost completely blocking the infection of Omicron pseudovirus with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 35.9 pM. Overall, the SNAP strategy not only fills the gap of the humoral immune evasion caused by clustered mutations on Omicron, but also provides a clue for the development of new broad neutralizing reagents against future variants., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Chaoyong Yang reports financial support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China., (© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, laboratory-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the feasibility of the combined use of calcium peroxide and hydroxyapatite (CaO 2 /HAP) for simultaneous black-odor sediment remediation and heavy metal stabilization. The ecotoxicological effects of remediated sediment were also evaluated based on biological toxicity. Results showed that CaO 2 /HAP effectively eliminated the black-odor and simultaneously stabilized heavy metals in the sediment. Under the optimal dosage ratio of CaO 2 /HAP (1:2), the acid volatile sulfides decreased to approximately 20 mg/kg (dry weight, dw) and oxidation-reduction potential increased from - 165 mV to approximately - 90 mV. The leaching of heavy metals meets the strictest standards (Level I) of the "Technical Specification for Output Disposal of Contaminated Sediment Treatment Plant of River and Lake" (SZDB/Z 236-2017). The indigenous microbial community succession occurred (p < 0.01), Proteobacteria and Firmicutes accounting for 75.54% and 20.19%, respectively, were the predominant bacteria in the remediated sediment. Additionally, CaO 2 /HAP remediated sediments were safer and more environmentally friendly than raw sediments, and were not biotoxic to the benthic environment (p < 0.01). This study provides new insights into the combined use of the beneficial amendments remediating heavy metal-contaminated black-odor river sediment., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, four groups of laboratory scale experiments were performed by adding sodium acetate (SA), phthalic acid (PA), and SA-PA to river sediment to observe the microbial response and biodegradation efficiency of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The results showed that the amount of total organic carbon consumed and the amount of sulfate reduction were both positively correlated (p < 0.01) with the biodegradation efficiency of the sum (∑) PAHs (∼40.5%). The lower the number of rings, the more PAHs were biodegraded, with an efficiency of 63.0% for ∑ (2 + 3) ring PAHs. Based on high-throughput sequencing and molecular ecological network analysis, it was found that the combined stimulation of SA and PA not only increased the relative abundance of PAHs-degrading bacterial (eg., Proteobacteria, Desulfobacterota, Campilobacterota and Firmicutes), but also had a strengthening effect on microbes in sediments. The altered microbial structure caused a variation in metabolic functions, which increased the amino acid metabolism to 12.2%, thus increasing the positive correlations among genera and improving the connectivity of the microbial network (p < 0.01). These changes may be responsible for the enhanced biodegradation of PAHs under SA-PA dosing in comparison to SA or PA dosing alone. This study revealed that the microbial community was stimulated by the combined addition of SA and PA, and indicated its role in enhancing biodegradation of PAHs in contaminated river sediments., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Gastric cancer (GC) is a malignant disease of the digestive tract and a life-threatening disease worldwide. Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent cell death caused by lipid peroxidation, is reported to be highly correlated with gastric tumorigenesis and immune cell activity. However, the underlying relationship between ferroptosis and the tumor microenvironment in GC and potential intervention strategies have not been unveiled. In this study, we profiled the transcriptome and prognosis data of ferroptosis-related genes (FRGs) in GC samples of the TCGA-STAD dataset. The infiltrating immune cells in GC were estimated using the CIBERSORT and XCELL algorithms. We found that the high expression of the hub FRGs ( MYB , PSAT1 , TP53 , and LONP1 ) was positively correlated with poor overall survival in GC patients. The results were validated in an external GC cohort (GSE62254). Further immune cell infiltration analysis revealed that CD4 + T cells were the major infiltrated cells in the tumor microenvironment of GC. Moreover, the hub FRGs were significantly positively correlated with activated CD4 + T cell infiltration, especially Th cells. The gene features in the high-FRG score group were enriched in cell division, DNA repair, protein folding, T cell receptor, Wnt and NIK/NF-kappaB signaling pathways, indicating that the hub FRGs may mediate CD4 + T cell activation by these pathways. In addition, an upstream transcriptional regulation network of the hub FRGs by lncRNAs was also developed. Three lncRNAs ( A2M-AS1 , C2orf27A , and ZNF667-AS1 ) were identified to be related to the expression of the hub FRGs. Collectively, these results showed that lncRNA A2M-AS1 , C2orf27A , and ZNF667-AS1 may target the hub FRGs and impair CD4 + T cell activation, which finally leads to poor prognosis of GC. Effective interventions for the above lncRNAs and the hub FRGs can help promote CD4 + T cell activation in GC patients and improve the efficacy of immunotherapy. These findings provide a novel idea of GC immunotherapy and hold promise for future clinical application., 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 Yao, Zhan, Pu, Lu, Chen, Deng, Wu, Chen, Chen, Tian, Ni and Mou.)

Background: Pressure injuries are potentially preventable but frequently occurring adverse events. Intensive care patients have major risk factors for pressure injury with a reported pressure injury prevalence of 12-33%. Multi-faceted interventions, also known as programs or care bundles, are recommended to prevent pressure injuries., Aim: This systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of pressure injury prevention programs in reducing pressure injury prevalence and incidence in the adult intensive care population. It also critically appraised the program components and strategies used to implement these programs., Method: We searched PubMed, EMBASE (embase.com), Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCOhost CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases separately for papers published in English and Chinese from the year of 2000 to May 2018. After removing duplicates, two authors independently screened the title and abstracts, then full-text against the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data was extracted by one author and checked by a second author. Quality appraisal was conducted by two authors by using the Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set, and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Content analysis was used to categorise program components. Implementation strategies were grouped into six classifications: dissemination strategies, implementation process strategies, integration strategies, capacity building strategies, sustainability strategies, and scale up strategies., Results: Twenty-one peer reviewed papers (12 quality improvement projects, and 9 research papers from 8 studies) were included. Pressure injury prevention programs with 2-11 components were commonly implemented. Common components of the programs included: clarification of staff roles, introducing new roles, repositioning, staff and patient education, support surfaces use, pressure injury risk assessment, skin assessment, nutrition needs assessment, documentation, multidisciplinary team involvement, and mobilisation. Implementation strategies commonly used were education, audit and feedback, and standardising documentation. Five of the eight research studies and one of the quality improvement projects reported significant decrease in pressure injury prevalence, and/or increase in compliance to pressure injury prevention protocols and strategies. Two quality improvement papers reported cost savings of $1 million and £2.6 million respectively after the implementation of the programs., Conclusion: Much of the work on multicomponent pressure injury prevention programs has been undertaken as quality improvement projects and before and after research studies with limited rigour. However, positive outcomes and strong theoretical rationales for the components in the programs suggest that they are beneficial. This calls for future high-quality research such as randomised controlled trials to test the effectiveness of multicomponent interventions and their implementation strategies. Tweetable abstract: Some multicomponent pressure injury prevention programs were found to be effective; however, higher level of research evidence is needed., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest None., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Arctigenin (ARC-G) is the main active ingredient extracted from Great Burdock Achene, with extensive pharmacological effects. In addition, ARC-G has been suggested to show excellent efficacy on inflammatory disease. This study aimed to defined that the function of Arctigenin attenuates inflammation in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced acute colitis, to determine its possible mechanism. Mice was induced by giving 2.0% DSS in the drinking water for DSS-induced acute colitis. Mice of acute colitis were injected intraperitoneally with 20 mg/kg per day of Arctigenin for 7 days. MPO activity levels were measured using MPO activity kits. Western Blot Analysis was used to determine the protein expression. Arctigenin prevents colitis and attenuates inflammation in DSS-induced acute colitis. Arctigenin suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome by SIRT1 in DSS-induced acute colitis. In THP-1 cell by LPS model, Arctigenin suppressed NLRP3, caspase-1 and IL-1β protein expression by SIRT1. Si-NLRP3 increases the effects of Arctigenin on inflammation in THP-1 cell by LPS model. Si-SIRT1 decreases the effects of Arctigenin on inflammation in THP-1 cell by LPS model. INF39, NLRP3 inhibitor also increased the effects of Arctigenin on inflammation in DSS-induced acute colitis. SIRT1 inhibitor also decreases the effects of Arctigenin on inflammation in DSS-induced acute colitis. Taken together our results demonstrated that Arctigenin attenuates inflammation in DSS-induced acute colitis through suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome by SIRT1., Competing Interests: None.