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Typha angustifolia L. (TA) pollen has been utilized as a traditional Chinese medicine for treating various internal and external traumas. Moreover, bioactive compounds possess diverse pharmacological activities. This study aims to evaluate the antiviral properties of TA based on its ability to generate bioenergy, capable of inhibiting viruses. TA pollens were extracted using water and ethanol solvents. These extracts were utilized to identify the phytochemical contents and correlate with the antioxidant activity via 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. HPLC analysis was conducted to identify its electron-shuttling compositions. The bioenergy-generating characteristics were determined via microbial fuel cells. The water extract (TA-W) showed higher antioxidant activity due to a higher phenolic and flavonoid content compared to the ethanol extract (TA-E). Quercetin-3-O-(2G-α-L-rhamnosyl)-rutinoside, quercetin-3-O-neohesperidoside, and quercetin are the electron shuttles (ES) identified out of the 11 compounds. TA obtained a 1.39 ± 0.10 amplification factor of power generation that indicates potential bioenergy-generating and associated antiviral characteristic properties. The findings may provide a foundation for developing antiviral medications specifically designed to target virus-related diseases, while minimizing the risk of drug toxicity and reducing the costs of drug development.

The present study investigated the mediation role of resilience between competency and occupational well-being and its variations among Chinese special education teachers. Two hundred and twenty-four Chinese special education teachers from Shandong and Zhejiang in China completed a range of self-report questionnaires, including Special Education Teacher Competence Scale, The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Special Education Teacher Occupational Well-being Scale. Correlation analysis revealed that special education teachers' competence, resilience, and occupational well-being were significantly correlated with each other. Furthermore, structural equation modelling analysis showed that competence exerted its indirect effect on occupational well-being through the mediation of resilience. The findings of this study provide a new perspective on the complex association between competence and occupational well-being. Practical implications were discussed in this academic research.

Cognitive diagnostic assessment based on Bayesian networks (BN) is developed in this paper to evaluate student understanding of the physical concept of buoyancy. we propose a three-order granular-hierarchy BN model which accounts for both fine-grained attributes and high-level proficiencies. Conditional independence in the BN structure is tested and utilized to validate the proposed model. The proficiency relationships are verified and the initial Q-matrix is refined. Then, an optimized granular hierarchy model is constructed based on the updated Q-matrix. All variants of the constructed models are evaluated on the basis of the prediction accuracy and the goodness-of-fit test. The experimental results demonstrate that the optimized granular-hierarchy model has the best prediction and model-fitting performance. In general, the BN method not only can provide more flexible modeling approach, but also can help validate or refine the proficiency model and the Q-matrix and this method has its unique advantage in cognitive diagnosis.

This study aims to investigate the impact of a novel environmental intervention--Emotive Intelligent Spaces (EIS) on young children's self-regulation and working memory using a single-subject reversal design (ABAB). EIS is a semi-private space with coloured lights that could adapt to each child's preferred colour based on the child's self-reported emotional state. A total of 29 three-to-seven-year-old participants completed the experiment from fall 2020 to summer 2021. Self-regulation was measured by the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task; working memory was measured by the Woodcock-Johnson Numbers Reversed subset. Children's age was controlled as a covariate. Descriptive statistics indicated that the group means of self-regulation scores were higher in the intervention conditions. However, the group means of working memory scores were lower in the intervention conditions. We conducted repeated measure ANCOVA for the main analysis, and results showed no statistically significant differences in children's self-regulation and working memory scores between baseline and intervention conditions. It is recommended that future studies should take the illuminance level into consideration of the intervention effect. Further, our study implies that avoiding visual overstimulation in the classroom (e.g. heavily decorated walls) may create an optimal level of visual arousal and promote focused attention.

Background: Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) mainly occur in the early post-myocardial infarction (MI) period. However, studies examining the association between total myocardial ischemia time interval and the risk of new-onset VAs during a long-term follow-up are scarce. Methods: This study (symptom-to-balloon time and VEntricular aRrhYthmias in patients with STEMI, VERY-STEMI study) was a multicenter, observational cohort and real-world study, which included patients with ST-segment elevation MI (STEMI) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The primary endpoint was cumulative new-onset VAs during follow-up. The secondary endpoints were the major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and changes in left ventricular ejection fraction (ΔLVEF, %). Results: A total of 517 patients with STEMI were included and 236 primary endpoint events occurred. After multivariable adjustments, compared to patients with S2BT of 24 h-7d, those with S2BT ≤ 24 h and S2BT > 7d had a lower risk of primary endpoint. RCS showed an inverted U-shaped relationship between S2BT and the primary endpoint, with an S2BT of 68.4 h at the inflection point. Patients with S2BT ≤ 24 h were associated with a lower risk of MACE and a 4.44 increase in LVEF, while there was no significant difference in MACE and LVEF change between the S2BT > 7d group and S2BT of 24 h-7d group. Conclusions: S2BT of 24 h-7d in STEMI patients was associated with a higher risk of VAs during follow-up. There was an inverted U-shaped relationship between S2BT and VAs, with the highest risk at an S2BT of 68.4 h.

Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (SM) is a widespread herbal therapy for myocardial ischemia (MI). Nevertheless, the therapeutic signaling networks of SM extract on MI is yet unknown. Emerging evidences suggested that alterations in cardiac metabolite influences host metabolism and accelerates MI progression. Herein, we employed an isoproterenol (ISO)-induced acute myocardial ischemia (AMI) rat model to confirm the pharmacological effects of SM extract (0.8, 0.9, 1.8 g/kg/day) via assessment of the histopathological alterations that occur within the heart tissue and associated cytokines; we also examined the underlying SM extract-mediated signaling networks using untargeted metabolomics. The results indicated that 25 compounds with a relative content higher than 1 % in SM aqueous extract were identified using LC-MS/MS analysis, which included salvianolic acid B, lithospermic acid, salvianolic acid A, and caffeic acid as main components. An in vivo experiment showed that pretreatment with SM extract attenuated ISO-induced myocardial injury, shown as decreased myocardial ischemic size, transformed electrocardiographic, histopathological, and serum biochemical aberrations, reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines, inhibited oxidative stress (OS), and reversed the trepidations of the cardiac tissue metabolic profiles. Metabolomics analysis shows that the levels of 24 differential metabolites (DMs) approached the same value as controls after SM extract therapy, which were primarily involved in histidine; alanine, aspartate, and glutamate; glycerophospholipid; and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolisms through metabolic pathway analysis. Correlation analysis demonstrated that the levels of modulatory effects of SM extract on the inflammation and OS were related to alterations in endogenous metabolites. Overall, SM extract demonstrated significant cardioprotective effects in an ISO-induced AMI rat model, alleviating myocardial injury, inflammation and oxidative stress, with metabolomics analysis indicating potential therapeutic pathways for myocardial ischemia.

Current research efforts on neurodegenerative diseases are focused on identifying novel and reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis and insight into disease progression. Salivary analysis is gaining increasing interest as a promising source of biomarkers and matrices for measuring neurodegenerative diseases. Saliva collection offers multiple advantages over the currently detected biofluids as it is easily accessible, non-invasive, and repeatable, allowing early diagnosis and timely treatment of the diseases. Here, we review the existing findings on salivary biomarkers and address the potential value in diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Based on the available research, β-amyloid, tau protein, α-synuclein, DJ-1, Huntington protein in saliva profiles display reliability and validity as the biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of frunexian (formerly known as EP‐7041 and HSK36273) injection, a small molecule inhibitor of activated coagulation factor XI (FXIa), in healthy Chinese adult volunteers. This study was a randomized, placebo‐ and positive‐controlled, sequential, ascending‐dose (0.3/0.6/1.0/1.5/2.25 mg/kg/h) study of 5‐day continuous intravenous infusions of frunexian. Frunexian administration exhibited an acceptable safety profile with no bleeding events. Steady state was rapidly reached with a median time ranging from 1.02 to 1.50 h. The mean half‐life ranged from 1.15 to 1.43 h. Frunexian plasma concentration at a steady state and area under the concentration–time curve exhibited dose‐proportional increases. The dose‐escalation study of frunexian demonstrated its progressively enhanced capacities to prolong activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) and inhibit FXIa activity. The correlations between PK and PD biomarkers (aPTT/baseline and FXI clotting activity/baseline) were described by the two Emax models, with the EC50 values of 8940 and 1300 ng/mL, respectively. Frunexian exhibits good safety and PK/PD properties, suggesting it is a promising candidate for anticoagulant drug.

BackgroundInfant, junior, and adult patients with neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID) present with various types of seizures. We aimed to conduct a systematic literature review on the clinical characteristics of NIID with seizures to provide novel insight for early diagnosis and treatment and to improve prognosis of these patients.MethodsWe used keywords to screen articles related to NIID and seizures, and data concerning the clinical characteristics of patients, including demographic features, disease characteristics of the seizures, treatment responses, imaging examinations, and other auxiliary examination results were extracted.ResultsThe included studies comprised 21 patients with NIID with seizures. The most common clinical phenotypes were cognitive impairment (76.20%) and impaired consciousness (57.14%), and generalized onset motor seizures (46.15%) represented the most common type. Compared with infantile and juvenile cases, the use of antiepileptic drugs in adults led to significant seizure control and symptom improvement, in addition to providing a better prognosis. The number of GGC sequence repeats in the NOTCH2NLC gene in six NIID patients with seizures who underwent genetic testing ranged 72–134.ConclusionThe most common clinical phenotypes in patients with NIID with seizures were cognitive impairment and consciousness disorders. Patients with NIID presented with various types of seizures, with the most common being generalized onset motor seizures. Adult patients had a better prognosis and were relatively stable. The early diagnosis of NIID with seizures is of great significance for treatment and to improve prognosis.

Ischemic stroke (IS) is a serious central nervous system disease. Post-IS complications, such as post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI), post-stroke depression (PSD), hemorrhagic transformation (HT), gastrointestinal dysfunction, cardiovascular events, and post-stroke infection (PSI), result in neurological deficits. The microbiota-gut-brain axis (MGBA) facilitates bidirectional signal transduction and communication between the intestines and the brain. Recent studies have reported alterations in gut microbiota diversity post-IS, suggesting the involvement of gut microbiota in post-IS complications through various mechanisms such as bacterial translocation, immune regulation, and production of gut bacterial metabolites, thereby affecting disease prognosis. In this review, to provide insights into the prevention and treatment of post-IS complications and improvement of the long-term prognosis of IS, we summarize the interaction between the gut microbiota and IS, along with the effects of the gut microbiota on post-IS complications.

Abstract The recently discovered APRO (anti-proliferative protein) family encodes a group of trans-membrane glycoproteins and includes 6 members: TOB1, TOB2, BTG1, BTG2, BTG3 and BTG4. The APRO family is reportedly associated with the initiation and progression of cancers. This study aims to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the APRO family of proteins as a prognostic biomarker in various human tumors. We performed a pan-cancer analysis of the APRO family based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). With the bioinformatics methods, we explored the prognostic value of the APRO family and the correlation between APRO family expression and tumor mutation burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), drug sensitivity, and immunotherapy in numerous cancers. Our results show that the APRO family was primarily down-regulated in cancer samples. The expression of APRO family members was linked with patient prognosis. In addition, APRO family genes showed significant association with immune infiltrate subtypes, tumor microenvironment, and tumor cell stemness. Finally, our study also demonstrated the relationship between APRO family genes and drug sensitivity. This study provides comprehensive information to understand the APRO family’s role as an oncogene and predictor of survival in some tumor types.

The genetic disorder Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is mainly caused by the loss of multiple paternally expressed genes in chromosome 15q11-q13 (the PWS region). Early diagnosis of PWS is essential for timely treatment, leading to effectively easing some clinical symptoms. Molecular approaches for PWS diagnosis at the DNA level are available, but the diagnosis of PWS at the RNA level has been limited. Here, we show that a cluster of paternally transcribed snoRNA-ended long noncoding RNAs (sno-lncRNAs, sno-lncRNA1–5) derived from the SNORD116 locus in the PWS region can serve as diagnostic markers. In particular, quantification analysis has revealed that 6,000 copies of sno-lncRNA3 are present in 1 μL whole blood samples from non-PWS individuals. sno-lncRNA3 is absent in all examined whole blood samples of 8 PWS individuals compared to 42 non-PWS individuals and dried blood samples of 35 PWS individuals compared to 24 non-PWS individuals. Further developing a new CRISPR-MhdCas13c system for RNA detection with a sensitivity of 10 molecules per μL has ensured sno-lncRNA3 detection in non-PWS, but not PWS individuals. Together, we suggest that the absence of sno-lncRNA3 represents a potential marker for PWS diagnosis that can be detected by both RT-qPCR and CRISPR-MhdCas13c systems with only microlitre amount of blood samples. Such an RNA-based sensitive and convenient approach may facilitate the early detection of PWS.

AIM: To analyze the relationship between rs128912 single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)in the promoter region of Toll-like receptor 3(TLR3)gene and cataract in Chinese Han population.METHODS: A total of 263 patients with cataract admitted to our hospital from June 2019 to June 2021 were selected as study group, and 150 patients with lens dislocation were included in control group. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of TLR3 protein in the anterior capsular tissues of lens in the two groups, and direct sequencing method was applied to analyze the polymorphism of rs128912 locus in the promoter region of TLR3 gene. The expression of peripheral blood TLR3 mRNA of patients with different genotypes was detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction(RT-qPCR).RESULTS: The expression level of TLR3 protein in the anterior capsular tissues in the study group was higher than that in the control group(P

AbstractContext Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with aberrant Th17 cell differentiation. Panax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen (Araliaceae) saponins (PNS) have an anti-inflammatory effect and can suppress Th17 cell differentiation.Objective To investigate mechanisms of PNS on Th17 cell differentiation in RA, and the role of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2).Materials and methods Naive CD4+T cells were treated with IL-6, IL-23 and TGF-β to induce Th17 cell differentiation. Apart from the Control group, other cells were treated with PNS (5, 10, 20 μg/mL). After the treatment, Th17 cell differentiation, PKM2 expression, and STAT3 phosphorylation were measured via flow cytometry, western blots, or immunofluorescence. PKM2-specific allosteric activator (Tepp-46, 50, 100, 150 μM) and inhibitor (SAICAR, 2, 4, 8 μM) were used to verify the mechanisms. A CIA mouse model was established and divided into control, model, and PNS (100 mg/kg) groups to assess an anti-arthritis effect, Th17 cell differentiation, and PKM2/STAT3 expression.Results PKM2 expression, dimerization, and nuclear accumulation were upregulated upon Th17 cell differentiation. PNS inhibited the Th17 cells, RORγt expression, IL-17A levels, PKM2 dimerization, and nuclear accumulation and Y705-STAT3 phosphorylation in Th17 cells. Using Tepp-46 (100 μM) and SAICAR (4 μM), we demonstrated that PNS (10 μg/mL) inhibited STAT3 phosphorylation and Th17 cell differentiation by suppressing nuclear PKM2 accumulation. In CIA mice, PNS attenuated CIA symptoms, reduced the number of splenic Th17 cells and nuclear PKM2/STAT3 signaling.Discussion and conclusions PNS inhibited Th17 cell differentiation through the inhibition of nuclear PKM2-mediated STAT3 phosphorylation. PNS may be useful for treating RA.

This study proposes a hybrid static economic dispatch (HSED) model that incorporates multiple constraints specific to power systems to enhance the economic efficiency of power dispatch following the integration of wind energy. Wind energy integration in power systems can effectively reduce operational costs and energy consumption. However, the significant influx of renewable energy sources can introduce system instability and complicate power dispatch procedures. An improved pathfinder algorithm (IPFA) is proposed to address the cost minimization problem associated with power dispatch involving wind energy. The HSED model contains constraints related to wind energy penetration rate, operating area limitations, and slope rate, thereby ensuring its applicability in real-world power dispatch scenarios. The IPFA incorporates three measures such as Kent mapping initialization, nonlinear adaptation factor, and following correction strategy. The result indicates that the IPFA achieves a reduction of up to 95.86($/h) and 606.24($/h) in operating costs compared to alternative methods when wind energy is not considered. The IPFA reduces operating costs by up to 9.3% and 7.5% compared to scenarios without wind energy when wind energy is integrated. The proposed model and method contribute to enhance renewable energy utilization while simultaneously ensuring the power system economic feasibility and stability.

Abstract Background Glucose fluctuations (GF) are a risk factor for cardiovascular complications associated with type 2 diabetes. However, there is a lack of adequate research on the effect of GF on myocardial fibrosis and the underlying mechanisms in type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to investigate the impact of glucose fluctuations on myocardial fibrosis and explore the potential mechanisms in type 2 diabetes. Methods Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into three groups: the control (Con) group, the type 2 diabetic (DM) group and the glucose fluctuations (GF) group. The type 2 diabetic rat model was established using a high-fat diet combined with low-dose streptozotocin injection and the GF model was induced by using staggered glucose and insulin injections daily. After eight weeks, echocardiography was used to assess the cardiac function of the three groups. Hematoxylin-eosin and Masson staining were utilized to evaluate the degree of pathological damage and fibrosis. Meanwhile, a neonatal rat cardiac fibroblast model with GF was established. Western and immunofluorescence were used to find the specific mechanism of myocardial fibrosis caused by GF. Results Compared with rats in the Con and the DM group, cardiac function in the GF group showed significant impairments. Additionally, the results showed that GF aggravated myocardial fibrosis in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, Ca2+/calmodulin‑dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) was activated by phosphorylation, prompting an increase in phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3) and induced nuclear translocation. Pretreatment with KN-93 (a CaMKII inhibitor) blocked GF-induced Stat3 activation and significantly suppressed myocardial fibrosis. Conclusions Glucose fluctuations exacerbate myocardial fibrosis by triggering the CaMKII/Stat3 pathway in type 2 diabetes.

Abstract Quantum resources construct new avenues to explore the cosmos. Considering bipartite-qubit detectors subjected to scalar fields in an expanding spacetime, quantum resources (including quantum coherence, quantum discord, Bell-nonlocality, and nonlocal advantage of quantum coherence) of the system are characterized. The influences of various cosmic parameters on these quantum resources are investigated. Besides, we use the filtering operation to propose a strategy that can be used to control these quantum resources. The results reveal that quantum coherence and quantum discord can not disappear at different expansion rapidity, expansion volumes, and particle masses of scalar field. Conversely, one can not capture Bell-nonlocality and nonlocal advantage of quantum coherence at higher expansion rapidity, larger expansion volume, and smaller particle mass. The dissipation of quantum resources can be resisted via the filtering operation. One can use the filtering operation to remarkably strengthen these quantum resources of the system.

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiovascular progenitor cells (hCVPCs) and cardiomyocytes (hCMs) possess therapeutic potential for infarcted hearts; however, their efficacy needs to be enhanced. Here we tested the hypotheses that the combination of decellularized porcine small intestinal submucosal extracellular matrix (SIS-ECM) with hCVPCs, hCMs, or dual of them (Mix, 1:1) could provide better therapeutic effects than the SIS alone, and dual hCVPCs with hCMs would exert synergic effects in cardiac repair. The data showed that the SIS patch well supported the growth of hCVPCs and hCMs. Epicardially implanted SIS-hCVPC, SIS-hCM, or SIS-Mix patches at 7-day post-myocardial infarction significantly ameliorated functional worsening, ventricular dilation and scar formation at 28- and 90-day post-implantation in C57/B6 mice, whereas the SIS only mildly improved function at 90-day post-implantation. Moreover, the SIS and SIS-cell patches improved vascularization and suppressed MI-induced cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and expression of Col1 and Col3, but only the SIS-hCM and the SIS-Mix patches increased the ratio of collagen III/I fibers in the infarcted hearts. Further, the SIS-cell patches stimulated cardiomyocyte proliferation via paracrine action. Notably, the SIS-Mix had better improvements in cardiac function and structure, engraftments, and cardiomyocyte proliferation. Proteomic analysis showed distinct biological functions of exclusive proteins secreted from hCVPCs and hCMs, and more exclusive proteins secreted from co-cultivated hCVPCs and hCMs than mono-cells involving in various functional processes essential for infarct repair. These findings are the first to demonstrate the efficacy and mechanisms of mono- and dual-hCVPC- and hCM-seeding SIS-ECM for repair of infarcted hearts based on the side-by-side comparison.