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Abstract Metal oxides and carbides are promising tritium permeation barrier coatings for fusion reactors. However, the thermomechanical mismatch between the coating and substrate poses a threat to their interface's integrity during fabrication and operation. To address this issue, a metallic interlayer coating was introduced followed by selective oxidation in which a compact and uniform Cr C amorphous alloy coating was successfully deposited on the stainless steel substrate by pulsed electrochemical deposition. A new composite coating of Cr x C y @Cr 2 O 3 /Al 2 O 3 was formed by subsequent controlled oxidation conversion and atomic layer deposition. The phase, morphology, chemical state and defects of the films were analyzed and compared both before and after hydrogen exposure at 300 °C. The results show that this new kind of composite coating, based on the principles of grain boundary pinning of chromic oxide with carbide and defect healing of alumina, can remarkably improve the hydrogen permeation barrier performance of these materials. Highlights • A new ceramic coating based on grain boundary pinning and passivation for hydrogen permeation barrier was proposed. • The Cr x C y @Cr 2 O 3 /Al 2 O 3 coating was successfully fabricated by selective oxidation of a Cr C alloy and atomic layer deposition. • This composite coating demonstrates improved and repair performance upon hydrogen exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Spontaneous isolated superior mesenteric artery dissection (SISMAD) is a rare vascular disease, the treatment strategies for which remain debated. This retrospective study aimed to compare the outcomes of conservative and endovascular treatments in patients with SISMAD., Materials and Methods: Fifty-eight patients with SISMAD confirmed by computed tomography angiography admitted to our hospital between November 2017 and May 2021 and received confirmed conservative (n=43) or endovascular (n=15) treatment. The patient demographics, imaging analysis, and follow-up results were analyzed and compared., Results: The cohort included 54 males and 4 females with a mean age of 52 years. Abdominal pain was the major complaint (49/58, 84.5%), followed by chest pain (2/58, 3.4%). The mean follow-up was 9.1±7.9 months. The 2 main Sakamoto types were type III (27/58, 46.6%) and type IV (16/58, 27.6%). Most patients in both groups had angle 1 (aortomesenteric angle) and angle 2 (superior mesenteric artery [SMA] course) of over 80°. About 67.3% of patients had long length of dissection (>60 mm). The median distance between the SMA root and the dissection entry site was 1.5 cm, mostly (84.5% of the patients) in the curved segment of the SMA. Telephone follow-ups found that most patients survived pain-free, and none underwent intestinal resection. Only 4 patients, 2 in each group, had recurrent abdominal pain during follow-up and received stenting treatment to achieve complete vascular remodeling. Importantly, we found that the conservative and endovascular therapies achieved similar high remodeling rates (94% and 100%, respectively; p=0.335). The conservative group achieved satisfying vascular remodeling (partial, 35%; complete, 59%), making it as safe and effective a treatment as endovascular therapy., Conclusions: Initial conservative management is safe and effective in patients with SISMAD. A high technical success rate and favorable short-term outcomes were associated with endovascular procedures as secondary interventions. It would be helpful to conduct large-scale, prospective, randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up for SISMAD., Clinical Impact: 1. This research provided more detail clinical information, such as evaluation of abdominal pain and measurements of SMA angles, which is all relevant to treatment. 2. What's more, the most surprising results of follow-up part shown that conservative treatment could reached the remodeling rate as high as endovascular treatment, which was relatively low in other studies. It helps us share our treatment experience with clinicians. 3. In addition, we get limited knowledge about this rare disease, it's encouraging us to do more researches based on the results we had., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Microplastics have significant influence on both freshwater cyanobacteria and marine microalgae, especially under co-exposure with other pollutants such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and pharmaceuticals. In the present study, combined effects of microplastics (polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)) and tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) on the microalgae Closterium sp. were studied to evaluate their acute toxicity, and the cell density, total chlorophyll concentration, photosynthetic activity, antioxidant system, and subcellular structure of Closterium sp. under different treatments were used to explain the physiological stress mechanism of the combined effects. The results indicate that both the single and combined treatments have inhibition effects on the cell growth and photosynthetic activity, with inhibition efficiencies (in terms of cell density) of 5.0%, 9.2%, 66.7%, 55.1%, and 59.8% for PET (100 mg L -1 ), PBT (100 mg L -1 ), TCH (10 mg L -1 ), PET/TCH (PET 100 mg L -1 and TCH 10 mg L -1 ), and PBT/TCH (PBT 100 mg L -1 and TCH 10 mg L -1 ), respectively, and relative electron-transport rates (rETRs) of 7.3%, 12.7%, 66.8%, 54.0%, and 59.9%, respectively, for each treatment compared with the control on the 7th day. Moreover, both PET and PBT have positive effects in alleviating TCH toxicity toward Closterium sp., and at the same time, the malondialdehyde level (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and catalase (CAT) activity induced by the combined treatments were much higher than those from the single microplastic treatments but lower than those from TCH treatment after 7 days. It was demonstrated that TCH causes a much more serious oxidative stress than PET/TCH and PBT/TCH, and the lower oxidative stress of the PET/TCH and PBT/TCH groups could be attributed to the adsorption of TCH to PET or PBT. This work improves the understanding of the combined toxicity effects of microplastics and TCH on Closterium sp.

Background: A limited number of studies have examined the use of radiomics to predict 3-year overall survival (OS) after hepatectomy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study develops 3-year OS prediction models for HCC patients after liver resection using MRI radiomics and clinicopathological factors., Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of 141 patients who underwent surgical resection of HCC was performed. Patients were randomized into two set: the training set (n=98) and the validation set (n=43) including the survival groups (n=111) and non-survival groups (n=30) based on 3-year survival after hepatectomy. Furthermore, x 2 or Fisher's exact test, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine independent clinicopathological risk factors associated with 3-year OS. 1688 quantitative imaging features were extracted from preoperative T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) of arterial phase (AP), portal venous phases (PVP)and delay period (DP). The features were selected using the variance threshold method, the select K best method and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm. By using Bernoulli Naive Bayes (BernoulliNB) and Multinomial Naive Bayes (MultinomialNB) classifiers, we constructed models based on the independent clinicopathological factors and Rad-scores. To determine the best model, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and Delong's test were used. Moreover, calibration curves were used to determine the calibration ability of the model, while decision curve analysis (DCA) was implemented to evaluate its clinical benefit., Results: The fusion model showed excellent prediction precision with AUC of 0.910 and 0.846 in training and validation set and revealed significant diagnostic accuracy and value in the calibration curve and DCA analysis., Conclusion: Nomograms based on MRI radiomics and clinicopathological factors have significant predictive value for 3-year OS after hepatectomy and can be used for risk classification., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Kuang et al.)

Background: Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is characterized by impaired learning and memory. 6 h duration isoflurane anesthesia is an important factor to induce POCD, and the dysfunction of ryanodine receptor (RyR) in the hippocampus may be involved in this process. We investigated the expression of RyR3 in the hippocampus of mice after 6-h duration isoflurane anesthesia, as well as the improvement of RyR receptor agonist caffeine on POCD mice, while attempting to identify the underlying molecular mechanism., Materials: We constructed a POCD model using 8-week-old male C57BL/6J mice that were exposed to 6-h duration isoflurane. Prior to the three-day cognitive behavioral experiment, RyR agonist caffeine were injected. Fear conditioning and location memory tests were used in behavioral studies. We also exposed the mouse neuroblastoma cell line Neuro-2a (N2A) to 6-h duration isoflurane exposure to simulate the conditions of in vivo cognitive dysfunction. We administered ryanodine receptor agonist (caffeine) and inhibitor (ryanodine) to N2a cells. Following that, we performed a series of bioinformatics analysis to discover proteins that are involved in the development of cognitive dysfunction. Rt-PCR and Western blot were used to assess mRNA level and protein expression., Results: 6-h duration isoflurane anesthesia induced cognitive dysfunction and increased RyR3 mRNA levels in hippocampus. The mRNA levels of RyR3 in cultured N2a cells after anesthesia were comparable to those in vivo, and the RyR agonist caffeine corrected the expression of some cognitive-related phenotypic proteins that were disturbed after anesthesia. Intraperitoneal injection of RyR agonist caffeine can improve cognitive function after isoflurane anesthesia in mice, and bioinformatics analyses suggest that CaMKⅣ may be involved in the molecular mechanism., Conclusion: Ryanodine receptor agonist caffeine may improve cognitive dysfunction in mice after isoflurane anesthesia., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Cadmium (Cd) pollution in paddy soils creates challenges in rice grain production, thereby threatening food security. The effectiveness of different base-tillering-panicle urea application ratios and the combined basal application of urea and Chinese milk vetch (CMV, Astragalus sinicus L.) in minimizing Cd accumulation in rice grains was explored in a Cd-contaminated acidic soil via a field experiment. The results indicated that under similar nitrogen (N) application rates, an appropriate amount of urea applied at the panicle stage or the combined basal application of urea and CMV decreased Cd absorption by rice roots and its accumulation in rice grains, as compared with that of conventional N application (control). Furthermore, under a 3:4:3 base-tillering-panicle urea application ratio or under a high basal application of CMV (37,500 kg hm -2 ), Cd concentrations in brown rice were significantly lower (40.7% and 34.1%, respectively) than that of control. Cadmium transport coefficient from root to straw was significantly higher than that of control when an appropriate amount of urea was applied at the panicle stage or when urea and CMV were applied basally, whereas the Cd transport coefficient from straw to brown rice was relatively lower. Moreover, soil pH, or the CEC and CaCl 2 -Cd concentrations under different N fertilizer treatment was not significantly different. However, the rice grain yield increased by 29.4% with basal application of a high CMV amount compared with that of control. An appropriate amount of urea applied at the panicle stage or the combined basal application of urea and CMV decreased Cd absorption by rice roots and inhibited its transport from straw to brown rice, thus reducing Cd concentration in brown rice. Therefore, combined with the key phase of Cd accumulation in rice, a reasonable urea application ratio or a basal application of high CMV amounts could effectively reduce Cd concentration in brown rice., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

General anesthesia is widely utilized in the clinic for surgical and diagnostic procedures. However, growing evidence suggests that anesthetic exposure may affect cognitive function negatively. Unfortunately, little is known about the underlying mechanisms and efficient prevention and therapeutic strategies for the anesthesia-induced cognitive dysfunction. 5-HT 7 R, a serotonin receptor family member, is functionally associated with learning and memory. It has recently become a potential therapeutic target in various neurological diseases as its ligands have a wide range of neuropharmacological effects. However, it remains unknown the role of 5-HT 7 R in the long-term isoflurane anesthesia-induced memory impairment and whether prior activation or blockade of 5-HT 7 R before anesthesia has modulating effects on this memory impairment. In this study, 5-HT 7 R selective agonist LP-211 and 5-HT 7 R selective antagonist SB-269970 were pretreated intraperitoneally to mice before anesthesia; their effects on the cognitive performance of mice were assessed using fear conditioning test and novel object recognition test. Furthermore, the transcriptional level of 5-HT 7 R in the hippocampus was detected using qRT-PCR, and proteomics was conducted to probe the underlying mechanisms. As a result, long-term exposure to isoflurane anesthesia caused memory impairment and an increase in hippocampal 5-HT 7 R mRNA expression, which could be attenuated by SB-269970 pretreatment but not LP-211pretreatment. According to the proteomics results, the antiamnestic effect of SB-269970 pretreatment was probably attributed to its action on the gene expression of Slc6a11, Itpka, Arf3, Srcin1, and Epb41l2, and synapse organization in the hippocampus. In conclusion, 5-HT 7 R is involved in the memory impairment induced by long-term isoflurane anesthesia, and the prior blockade of 5-HT 7 R with SB-269970 protects the memory impairment. This finding may help to improve the understanding of the long-term isoflurane anesthesia-induced memory impairment and to construct potential preventive and therapeutic strategies for the adverse effects after long-term isoflurane exposure., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Earlier, we reported that the microRNA (miR)-155 expression in dendritic cells (DCs) from Behcet's disease (BD) patients was decreased and affected cytokine production of DCs. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms whereby miR-155 regulates cytokine production by DCs., Methods: The formation of autophagosomes in DCs was detected by transmission electron microscopy. Western blotting was used to detect the protein levels of LC3, Beclin-1, P62, p-mTOR, and p-Akt in DCs. TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β expression were investigated by ELISA. MiR-155 mimics were transfected to DCs to evaluate its effects on autophagy and cytokine production. RNA interference was used to downregulate the expression of TAB2., Results: The formation of autophagosomes was found in DCs of active BD patients. The expressions of LC3-II, Beclin-1, and P62 were significantly increased in DCs of active BD patients compared to that of inactive BD patients and healthy controls. The expressions of IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α were significantly increased in DCs of active BD patients compared to that of healthy controls. The autophagy promoter (3-MA) and inhibitor (rapamycin) significantly decreased or increased the expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β by DCs. The expression of LC3-II and Beclin-1 was significantly increased, but the expression of P62 proteins was decreased in DCs transfected with miR-155 mimics or after TAB2 was downregulated. The expression of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β was decreased in DCs after miR-155 was upregulated or TAB2 was downregulated. The ratios of p-Akt/Akt and p-mTOR/mTOR were decreased in DCs after miR-155 was upregulated., Conclusions: These results suggest that miR-155 affects the production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β by DCs through activation of the Akt/mTOR signaling pathway and by affecting the process of autophagy.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 -NPs) are widely used in the cosmetics, health, and food industries, but their safety and genotoxicity remain a matter of debate. We investigated whether TiO 2 -NPs could induce gene mutations in mouse lymphoma L5178Y cells and Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102, and TA1535. Following preliminary tests, 2 mg/mL for the mouse lymphoma gene mutation assay and 1.25 mg/plate for the in vitro bacterial reverse mutation assay (Ames test) were selected as the highest concentrations. Exposure to TiO2-NPs for 4 or 24 h with or without S9 metabolic activation did not increase mutation frequency for any of the concentrations tested in L5178Y cells. In the Ames test, TiO 2 -NPs did not induce reverse mutation in the bacterial strains. No positive mutagenic responses were observed in either test system, and therefore we cannot classify TiO 2 -NPs as mutagenic; further testing will be required to determine conclusively whether TiO 2 -NPs are genotoxic., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential association of microRNA-146a (miR-146a) and V-Ets oncogene homolog 1 (Ets-1) gene polymorphisms with Fuchs Uveitis syndrome (FUS)., Methods: Three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), miR-146a/rs2910164, ets-1/rs1128334, and ets-1/rs10893872 were genotyped in 219 Han Chinese patients with FUS and 612 healthy controls using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Genotype counts were analyzed by the χ² test., Results: No significant difference concerning the genotypic and allelic frequencies of rs2910164, rs1128334, and rs10893872 polymorphisms could be found between patients with FUS and the normal controls. Analysis according to gender did not show any influence of sex on the association of miR-146a and Ets-1 with FUS., Conclusions: Our results suggest that the investigated three SNPs, miR-146a/rs2910164, ets-1/rs1128334, and ets-1/rs10893872, are not associated with FUS in the Han Chinese population.