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Abstract Background Next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches have revolutionized gut microbiome research and can provide strain-level resolution, but these techniques have limitations in that they are only semi-quantitative, suffer from high detection limits, and generate data that is compositional. The present study aimed to systematically compare quantitative PCR (qPCR) and droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) for the absolute quantification of Limosilactobacillus reuteri strains in human fecal samples and to develop an optimized protocol for the absolute quantification of bacterial strains in fecal samples. Results Using strain-specific PCR primers for L. reuteri 17938, ddPCR showed slightly better reproducibility, but qPCR was almost as reproducible and showed comparable sensitivity (limit of detection [LOD] around 104 cells/g feces) and linearity (R 2 > 0.98) when kit-based DNA isolation methods were used. qPCR further had a wider dynamic range and is cheaper and faster. Based on these findings, we conclude that qPCR has advantages over ddPCR for the absolute quantification of bacterial strains in fecal samples. We provide an optimized and easy-to-follow step-by-step protocol for the design of strain-specific qPCR assays, starting from primer design from genome sequences to the calibration of the PCR system. Validation of this protocol to design PCR assays for two L. reuteri strains, PB-W1 and DSM 20016 T, resulted in a highly accurate qPCR with a detection limit in spiked fecal samples of around 103 cells/g feces. Applying our strain-specific qPCR assays to fecal samples collected from human subjects who received live L. reuteri PB-W1 or DSM 20016 T during a human trial demonstrated a highly accurate quantification and sensitive detection of these two strains, with a much lower LOD and a broader dynamic range compared to NGS approaches (16S rRNA gene sequencing and whole metagenome sequencing). Conclusions Based on our analyses, we consider qPCR with kit-based DNA extraction approaches the best approach to accurately quantify gut bacteria at the strain level in fecal samples. The provided step-by-step protocol will allow scientists to design highly sensitive strain-specific PCR systems for the accurate quantification of bacterial strains of not only L. reuteri but also other bacterial taxa in a broad range of applications and sample types. Video Abstract

Abstract High-power terahertz (THz) quantum cascade laser, as an emerging THz solid-state radiation source, is attracting attention for numerous applications including medicine, sensing, and communication. However, due to the sub-wavelength confinement of the waveguide structure, direct beam brightness upscaling with device area remains elusive due to several mode competition and external optical lens is normally used to enhance the THz beam brightness. Here, we propose a metallic THz photonic crystal resonator with a phase-engineered design for single mode surface emission over a broad area. The quantum cascade surface-emitting laser is capable of delivering an output peak power over 185 mW with a narrow beam divergence of 4.4° × 4.4° at 3.88 THz. A high beam brightness of 1.6 × 107 W sr−1m−2 with near-diffraction-limited M2 factors of 1.4 in both vertical and lateral directions is achieved from a large device area of 1.6 × 1.6 mm2 without using any optical lenses. The adjustable phase shift between the lattices enables a stable and high-intensity surface emission over a broad device area, which makes it an ideal light extractor for large-scale THz emitters. Our research paves the way to high brightness solid-state THz lasers and facilitates new applications in standoff THz imaging, detection, and diagnosis.

Abstract We aimed to assess the cumulative incidences of cancer-specific mortality (CSM) in non-metastatic patients with non‑muscle invasive urothelial bladder cancer (NMIUBC) and establish competing risk nomograms to predict CSM. Patient data was sourced from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, as well as the electronic medical record system in our institution to form the external validation cohort. Sub-distribution proportional hazards model was utilized to determine independent risk factors influencing CSM in non-metastatic NMIUBC patients. Competitive risk nomograms were constructed to predict 3-year, 5-year, and 8-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) in all patients group, TURBT group and cystectomy group, respectively. The discrimination and accuracy of the model were validated through the concordance index (C-index), the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and calibration curves. Decision curve analysis (DCA) and a risk stratification system was employed to evaluate the clinical utility of the model. Race, age, marital status, surgery in other sites, tumor size, histological type, histological grade, T stage and N stage were identified as independent risk factors to predict CSS in all patients group. The C-index for 3-year CSS was 0.771, 0.770 and 0.846 in the training, testing and external validation sets, respectively. The ROC curves showed well discrimination and the calibration plots were well fitted and consistent. Moreover, DCA demonstrated well clinical effectiveness. Altogether, the competing risk nomogram displayed excellent discrimination and accuracy for predicting CSS in non-metastatic NMIUBC patients, which can be applied in clinical practice to help tailor treatment plans and make clinical decisions.

IntroductionCancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a diverse group of cells that significantly contribute to reshaping the tumor microenvironment (TME), and no research has systematically explored the molecular landscapes of senescence related CAFs (senes CAF) in NB.MethodsWe utilized pan-cancer single cell and spatial transcriptomics analysis to identify the subpopulation of senes CAFs via senescence related genes, exploring its spatial distribution characteristics. Harnessing the maker genes with prognostic significance, we delineated the molecular landscapes of senes CAFs in bulk-seq data. We established the senes CAFs related signature (SCRS) by amalgamating 12 and 10 distinct machine learning (ML) algorithms to precisely diagnose stage 4 NB and to predict prognosis in NB. Based on risk scores calculated by prognostic SCRS, patients were categorized into high and low risk groups according to median risk score. We conducted comprehensive analysis between two risk groups, in terms of clinical applications, immune microenvironment, somatic mutations, immunotherapy, chemotherapy and single cell level. Ultimately, we explore the biological function of the hub gene JAK1 in pan-cancer multi-omics landscape.ResultsThrough integrated analysis of pan-cancer spatial and single-cell transcriptomics data, we identified distinct functional subgroups of CAFs and characterized their spatial distribution patterns. With marker genes of senes CAF and leave-one-out cross-validation, we selected RF algorithm to establish diagnostic SCRS, and SuperPC algorithm to develop prognostic SCRS. SCRS demonstrated a stable predictive capability, outperforming the previously published NB signatures and clinic variables. We stratified NB patients into high and low risk group, which showed the low-risk group with a superior survival outcome, an abundant immune infiltration, a different mutation landscape, and an enhanced sensitivity to immunotherapy. Single cell analysis reveals biologically cellular variations underlying model genes of SCRS. Spatial transcriptomics delineated the molecular variant expressions of hub gene JAK1 in malignant cells across cancers, while immunohistochemistry validated the differential protein levels of JAK1 in NB.ConclusionBased on multi-omics analysis and ML algorithms, we successfully developed the SCRS to enable accurate diagnosis and prognostic stratification in NB, which shed light on molecular landscapes of senes CAF and clinical utilization of SCRS.

Air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants including NO2 and NOx, presents significant public health challenges. While the harmful effects of these pollutants are well-documented, the molecular mechanisms underlying their impact on health remain incompletely understood. In this study, we utilized genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from the UK Biobank, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) data from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) project, and protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study to conduct comprehensive analyses using the Unified Test for Molecular Signatures (UTMOST), Transcriptome-wide Association Studies (TWAS), and Proteome-wide Association Studies (PWAS). To integrate and synthesize these analyses, we developed the AirSigOmniTWP Hub, a specialized platform designed to consolidate and interpret the results from UTMOST, TWAS, and PWAS. TWAS analysis identified a significant association between PM10 exposure and the gene INO80E in females (P = 4.37×10⁻⁵, FDR = 0.0383), suggesting a potential role in chromatin remodeling. PWAS analysis revealed a significant association between NOx exposure and the gene PIP in females (P = 2.28×10⁻⁵, FDR = 0.0299), implicating its involvement in inflammatory pathways. Additionally, UTMOST analyses uncovered significant associations between various pollutants and genes including NCOA4P3 and SPATS2L with PM2.5 exposure, indicating potential mechanisms related to transcriptional regulation and gene-environment interactions.

Abstract Topological lasers (TLs) have attracted widespread attention due to their mode robustness against perturbations or defects. Among them, electrically pumped TLs have gained extensive research interest due to their advantages of compact size and easy integration. Nevertheless, limited studies on electrically pumped TLs have been reported in the terahertz (THz) and telecom wavelength ranges with relatively low output powers, causing a wide gap between practical applications. Here, we introduce a surface metallic Dirac-vortex cavity (SMDC) design to solve the difficulty of increasing power for electrically pumped TLs in the THz spectral range. Due to the strong coupling between the SMDC and the active region, robust 2D topological defect lasing modes are obtained. More importantly, enough gain and large radiative efficiency provided by the SMDC bring in the increase of the output power to a maximum peak power of 150 mW which demonstrates the practical application potential of electrically pumped TLs.

To analyse the effects of Moutan cortex radicis extract (ME) on lipid metabolism disorder via regulation of lipid accumulation and endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). C57BL/6 mice were fed an HFD for 11 weeks and then an HFD plus 200 mg/kg ME for 2 weeks. We found that ME reduced hepatic CHOL levels and lipid droplet deposition, and down-regulated PPARγ, SCD1, GRP78 and C/EBP compared to the HFD group (P

Micromagnets integrated into microelectromechanical systems devices are widely used in the fields of micro-energy harvesters, micro-actuators, and speakers. A novel method for fabricating NdFeB micromagnets based on vacuum negative pressure injection is presented. The influence of array element shape, size, and injection channel on the surface magnetic field was studied by Maxwell finite element analysis. A circle array of 600 µm diameter and 150 µm spacing could generate a stronger magnetic field at the edge of the magnet array. Micron-sized magnetic powders with a diameter of 5 µm mixed with the SU8 T2010 photoresist were filled into the microcavity on a PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) elastomer, which was prepared by the SU8 positive membrane. The PDMS elastomer was bonded to the glass substrate and degassed by a vacuum pump to form negative pressure for rapid injection and uniform filling. By selecting a suitable binder and optimizing the mixing ratio of the magnetic powder, a 165 µm thick micromagnet with homogeneous dispersion of magnetic powder particles was achieved, and the weight percentage of magnetic powder in the SU8 photoresist was 41.8%. The remanent magnetization of micromagnets was 42 emu/g, the coercivity was 6895 Oe, and the maximum surface magnetic field strength was 1.3 mT after magnetization in a 2 T uniform magnetic field. Finally, the micromagnet array was utilized in a cantilever beam micro-actuator, which could drive the cantilever beam and exhibit an excellent linearity.

Abstract Background To build prediction models with radiomics features, clinical/conventional radiographic signs and combined scores for the discrimination of micropapillary or solid subtypes (high-risk subtypes) of lung adenocarcinoma. Methods This retrospective study enrolled 351 patients with and without high-risk subtypes. Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression with cross-validation was performed to determine the optimal features of radiomics model. Missing clinical data were imputed by Multiple Imputation with Chain Equations (MICE). Clinical model with radiographic signs was built and scores of both models were integrated to establish combined model. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, area under ROC curves and decision curve analysis (DCA) were plotted to evaluate the model performance and clinical application. Results Stratified splitting allocated 246 patients into training set. MICE for missing values obtained complete and unbiased data for the following analysis. Ninety radiomic features and four clinical/conventional radiographic signs were used to predict the high-risk subtypes. The radiomic model, clinical model and combined model achieved AUCs of 0.863 (95%CI: 0.817–0.909), 0.771 (95%CI: 0.713–0.713) and 0.872 (95%CI: 0.829–0.916) in the training set, and 0.849 (95%CI: 0.774–0.924), 0.778 (95%CI: 0.687–0.868) and 0.853 (95%CI: 0.782–0.925) in the test set. Decision curve showed that the radiomic and combined models were more clinically useful when the threshold reached 37.5%. Conclusions Radiomics features could facilitate the prediction of subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma. A simple combination of radiomics and clinical scores generated a robust model with high performance for the discrimination of micropapillary or solid subtype of lung adenocarcinoma.

In this study, the effects of quercetin and daidzein on egg quality, lipid metabolism, and cecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were compared in layers. Hyline brown layers at 385 days of age with a similar laying rate (81.36% ± 0.62%) and body weight (2.10 kg ± 0.04 kg) were randomly divided into three treatments, six replicates per treatment, and 20 layers per replicate. Layers in control, quercetin, and daidzein treatment were fed by a basal diet supplemented with 0 mg/kg, 500 mg/kg quercetin, and 30 mg/kg of daidzein for 10 weeks. Results showed that eggshell strength and albumen height in week 4, egg yolk diameter in week 10, and eggshell thickness and egg yolk height in weeks 4 and 10 were significantly increased in the quercetin treatment (P ≤ 0.05); contents of phospholipid (PL) and lecithin (LEC) in egg yolk and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) content in serum were significantly increased; however, contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), total cholesterol (TC), and triglyceride (TG) in egg yolk, contents of TC, TG, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in serum, and contents of TC and TG in the liver were significantly decreased in the quercetin treatment (P ≤ 0.05); contents of isobutyric acid and valeric acid were significantly increased in the cecum of the quercetin treatment (P ≤ 0.05), compared with control. Moreover, egg yolk height in week 10 and eggshell thickness in weeks 4 and 10 were significantly increased in the daidzein treatment (P ≤ 0.05); contents of MDA, TC, and TG in egg yolk, TC, TG, and VLDL in serum, and TC and TG in liver were significantly decreased in the daidzein treatment (P ≤ 0.05); and HDL content was significantly increased in serum of the daidzein treatment (P ≤ 0.05) compared with control. However, daidzein did not affect SCFA content in the cecum. In conclusion, egg quality was improved by quercetin and daidzein by increasing the antioxidant ability of egg yolk and by regulating lipid metabolism in layers. Quercetin worked better than daidzein in improving egg quality under this experimental condition.

The photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) has attracted much attention due to the advantages of a small far-field divergence angle and high output power. Here, we report a high-power terahertz (THz) photonic crystal laser with high beam quality through the optimization of the absorption boundary condition and the introduction of the symmetrically distributed electrodes. Single-mode surface emission at 3.4 THz with the maximum peak output power of 50 mW is demonstrated. Meanwhile, a high symmetric far-field pattern with C6 symmetry and a small divergence angle is achieved. In this device, the integration of the stable single-mode operation, high beam quality and high output power is realized, which may have great significance for practical applications.

With the advent of the internet of things and artificial intelligence, flexible and portable pressure sensors have shown great application potential in human-computer interaction, personalized medicine and other fields. By comparison with traditional inorganic materials, flexible polymeric materials conformable to the human body are more suitable for the fabrication of wearable pressure sensors. Given the consumption of a huge amount of flexible wearable electronics in near future, it is necessary to turn their attention to biodegradable polymers for the fabrication of flexible pressure sensors toward the development requirement of green and sustainable electronics. In this paper, the structure and properties of silk fibroin (SF) are introduced, and the source and research progress of the piezoelectric properties of SF are systematically discussed. In addition, this paper summarizes the advance in the studies on SF-based capacitive, resistive, triboelectric, and piezoelectric sensors reported in recent years, and focuses on their fabrication methods and applications. Finally, this paper also puts forward the future development trend of high-efficiency fabrication and corresponding application of SF-based piezoelectric sensors. It offers new insights into the design and fabrication of green and biodegradable bioelectronics for in vitro and in vivo sensing applications.

Psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic component of magic mushrooms, has significant psychoactive effects in both humans and rodents. But the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a useful tool in many preclinical and clinical trials to investigate psilocybin-induced changes of brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) due to its noninvasive nature and widespread availability. However, fMRI effects of psilocybin on rats have not been carefully investigated. This study aimed to explore how psilocybin affects resting-state brain activity and FC, through a combination of BOLD fMRI and immunofluorescence (IF) of EGR1, an immediate early gene (IEG) closely related to depressive symptoms. Ten minutes after psilocybin hydrochloride injection (2.0 mg/kg, i.p.), positive brain activities were observed in the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortex (including the cingulate cortex and retrosplenial cortex), hippocampus, and striatum. And a region-of-interest (ROI) -wise FC analysis matrix suggested increased interconnectivity of several regions, such as the cingulate cortex, dorsal striatum, prelimbic, and limbic regions. Further seed-based analyses revealed increased FC of cingulate cortex within the cortical and striatal areas. Consistently, acute psilocybin increased the EGR1 level throughout the brain, indicating a consistent activation thought the cortical and striatal areas. In conclusion, the psilocybin-induced hyperactive state of rats is congruent to that of humans, and may be responsible for its pharmacological effects.

Imbalance in the microbiota has been identified in Crohn's disease (CD). We explored the difference of the microbiota in fecal and intestinal mucosa (including ileocecal junction, terminal ileum and transverse colon) in pediatric patients with active CD, CD patients in remission, nonspecific enteritis (NE) and the healthy children. Seven children had active CD, 5 cases of patients achieve remission (CDR), 19 were NE patients, and 11 were healthy controls (Col). A total of 168 samples were collected. Microbiota compositions were analyzed using 16 ​S rRNA sequencing. The results showed that, in fecal samples, Clostridium_sensu_stricto, Enterobacter and Akkermansia had a higher relative abundance in the CD group than that in CDR, Col and NE groups. Fusobacterium and Streptococcus showed a higher abundance in both CD and CDR than that in Col group. In intestinal mucosa samples, the bacterial communities of the three sampling sites were extremely similar. Escherichia-Shigella was the most abundant mucosal bacteria in the CD group, and the abundance of Bacillus, Ruminococcus_torques_group, Streptococcus, Faecalibacterium and Blautia was lower in the CD group than in other groups. In conclusion, as a very characteristic bacteria, the abundance of Escherichia-Shigella in the intestinal mucosa can be used as a diagnostic criterion for CD patients. Also, the Bacilus and Blautia, which were not as prominent as Escherichia-Shigella could still be used as a diagnostic candidate due to their neatness in CD patients. Mucosal samples may be better than stool samples when assessing the community and diversity of patients' intestinal microbes.

Psychedelics alter consciousness and may have potential for drug development. As psychedelics are likely therapeutically active, it is important to study their effects and mechanisms using preclinical models. Here, we examined the effects of phenylalkylamine and indoleamine psychedelics on locomotor activity and exploratory behaviour using the mouse Behavioural Pattern Monitor (BPM). DOM, mescaline, and psilocin reduced locomotor activity at high doses and influenced rearings, an exploratory behaviour, in a characteristic inverted U-shaped dose-response function. Pretreatment with the selective 5-HT2A antagonist M100907 reversed the drug-induced alterations in locomotor activity, rearings, and jumps after systemic administration of DOM at low doses. However, holepoking at the full range of doses tested was not blocked by M100907. Administration of the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonist 25CN-NBOH induced striking similarities in response to that to psychedelics; these alterations were significantly diminished by M100907, whereas the putatively non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonist TBG did not affect locomotor activity, rearings, or jumps at the most effective doses. The nonhallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonist lisuride failed to increase rearing. The results of these experiments provide strong evidence that DOM-elicited increases in rearing are due to mediation by the 5-HT2A receptor. Finally, discriminant analysis was able to distinguish all four psychedelics from lisuride and TBG based on behavioural performance alone. Thus, increased rearing in mice could provide additional evidence of behavioural differences between hallucinogenic and nonhallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonists.

Background. Long-term extensive use of glucocorticoids will lead to hormonal necrosis of the femoral head, and osteoblasts play an important role in the prevention of osteonecrosis. However, there is no complete cure for necrosis of the femoral head. Mesenchymal stem cell- (MSCs-) derived exosomes are widely used for the repair of various tissue lesions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of dexamethasone- (DEX-) induced osteoblast apoptosis and the therapeutic effect of human umbilical cord MSC- (hucMSC-) derived exosome mimetic vesicles (EMVs) on osteoblast-induced apoptosis by DEX. Methods. The viability and apoptosis of primary MC3T3-E1 cells were determined by the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8), FITC-Annexin V/PI staining and immunoblot. The intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after DEX treatment were measured by 2′, 7′ -dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) staining. In this study, hucMSC-EMVs and N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) were used as therapeutic measures. The expression of B-cell lymphoma 2-associated X, Bcl 2, HO-1, and nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 and MAPK- signaling pathway in osteogenic cell MC3T3-E1 cells treated with Dex was analyzed by the immunoblotting. Results. DEX significantly induced osteoblasts MC3T3-E1 apoptosis and ROS accumulation. MAPK-signaling pathway was activated in MC3T3-E1 after DEX treatment. hucMSC-EMVs intervention significantly downregulated DEX-induced MAPK-signaling pathway activation and ROS accumulation. In addition, hucMSC-EMVs can reduce the apoptosis levels in osteoblast MC3T3-E1 cells induced by DEX. Conclusions. Our study confirmed that hucMSC-EMVs regulates MAPK-signaling pathway and ROS levels to inhibit DEX-induced osteoblast apoptosis.

PurposePediatric testicular yolk sac tumor is a rare malignant germ cell tumor and there is a lack of large clinical studies. The purpose of this study is to summarize the clinical characteristics of pediatric testicular yolk tumor and evaluate the prognostic factors.Materials and methodsThe medical records of children with testicular yolk sac tumor in one pediatric medical centre in China from January 2005 to January 2021 were retrospectively investigated. Data regarding clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis were collected.ResultsA total of 109 patients with a median diagnosed age of 18 months (range 2–69) were included in this study; of them 100 were diagnosed as stage I, 6 as stage II and 3 as stage IV. All patients underwent radical orchiectomy, and 61 of them underwent postoperative chemotherapy. The mean follow-up time was 61.3 months (range 3–259), during that time, 8 patients experienced relapse. The five-year overall survival was 90.6% (95% CI 84.6%–96.7%). Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that disease stage, relapse, maximum tumor diameter, and alpha-fetoprotein returning to normal within 2 months postoperatively were risk factors for survival (HRs of 25.43, 26.43, 1.48 and 0.08, respectively, p

Ruminants digest plant biomass more efficiently than monogastric animals due to their symbiotic relationship with a complex microbiota residing in the rumen environment. What remains unclear is the relationship between the rumen microbial taxonomic and functional composition and feed efficiency (FE), especially in crossbred dairy cattle (Holstein x Gyr) raised under tropical conditions. In this study, we selected twenty-two F1 Holstein x Gyr heifers and grouped them according to their residual feed intake (RFI) ranking, high efficiency (HE) (n = 11) and low efficiency (LE) (n = 11), to investigate the effect of FE on the rumen microbial taxa and their functions. Rumen fluids were collected using a stomach tube apparatus and analyzed using amplicon sequencing targeting the 16S (bacteria and archaea) and 18S (protozoa) rRNA genes. Alpha-diversity and beta-diversity analysis revealed no significant difference in the rumen microbiota between the HE and LE animals. Multivariate analysis (sPLS-DA) showed a clear separation of two clusters in bacterial taxonomic profiles related to each FE group, but in archaeal and protozoal profiles, the clusters overlapped. The sPLS-DA also revealed a clear separation in functional profiles for bacteria, archaea, and protozoa between the HE and LE animals. Microbial taxa were differently related to HE (e.g., Howardella and Shuttleworthia) and LE animals (e.g., Eremoplastron and Methanobrevibacter), and predicted functions were significatively different for each FE group (e.g., K03395—signaling and cellular process was strongly related to HE animals, and K13643—genetic information processing was related to LE animals). This study demonstrates that differences in the rumen microbiome relative to FE ranking are not directly observed from diversity indices (Faith’s Phylogenetic Diversity, Pielou’s Evenness, Shannon’s diversity, weighted UniFrac distance, Jaccard index, and Bray–Curtis dissimilarity), but from targeted identification of specific taxa and microbial functions characterizing each FE group. These results shed light on the role of rumen microbial taxonomic and functional profiles in crossbred Holstein × Gyr dairy cattle raised in tropical conditions, creating the possibility of using the microbial signature of the HE group as a biological tool for the development of biomarkers that improve FE in ruminants.

Flesh color is an important target trait in peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] breeding. In this study, two white-fleshed peach cultivars were crossed [Changsong Whitepeach (WP-1) × ‘Xiacui’], and their hybrid F1 generation showed color segregation of white flesh (BF1) and yellow flesh (HF1). Metabolome analysis revealed that the flesh color segregation in the hybrid F1 generation was related to the carotenoid content. The decrease in β-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin in BF1 flesh and increase in β-cryptoxanthin oleate, rubixanthin caprate, rubixanthin laurate and zeaxanthin dipalmitate in HF1 flesh contributed to their difference in carotenoid accumulation. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that compared with BF1, HF1 showed significant up-regulation and down-regulation of ZEP and CCD8 at the core-hardening stage, respectively, while significant down-regulation of NCED in the whole fruit development stage. The down-regulation of NCED might inhibit the breakdown of the violaxanthin and its upstream substances and further promote the accumulation of carotenoids, resulting in yellow flesh. Therefore, NCED may be a key gene controlling the fruit color traits of peach. In this study, targeted metabolomics and transcriptomics were used to jointly explore the mechanism controlling the fruit color of peach, which may help to identify the key genes for the differences in carotenoid accumulation and provide a reference for the breeding of yellow-fleshed peach.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be accompanied by an accelerated structural decline of the brain with age compared to healthy controls (HCs); however, this has yet to be proven. To answer this question, we built a brain age prediction model using mean gray matter volumes of each brain region as features, which were obtained by voxel-based morphometry derived from T1-weighted MRI scans. The prediction model was built using two Chinese Han datasets (dataset 1, N = 106 for HCs and N = 90 for patients with OCD; dataset 2, N = 270 for HCs) to evaluate its performance. Then, a new prediction model was trained using data for HCs in dataset 1 and applied to patients with OCD to investigate the brain aging trajectory. The brain-predicted age difference (brain-PAD) scores, defined as the difference between predicted brain age and chronological age, were calculated for all participants and compared between patients with matched HCs in dataset 1. It was demonstrated that the prediction model performs consistently across different datasets. Patients with OCD presented higher brain-PAD scores than matched HCs, suggesting that patients with OCD presented accelerated brain aging. In addition, brain-PAD scores were negatively correlated with the duration of illness, suggesting that brain-PAD scores might capture progressive structural brain changes. These results identified accelerated brain aging in patients with OCD for the first time and deepened our understanding of the pathogenesis of OCD.

Tongue diagnosis plays a pivotal role in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. As one of the most important tongue characteristics, tooth-marked tongue is related to spleen deficiency and can greatly contribute to the symptoms differentiation and treatment selection. Yet, the tooth-marked tongue recognition for TCM practitioners is subjective and challenging. Most of the previous studies have concentrated on subjectively selected features of the tooth-marked region and gained accuracy under 80%. In the present study, we proposed an artificial intelligence framework using deep convolutional neural network (CNN) for the recognition of tooth-marked tongue. First, we constructed relatively large datasets with 1548 tongue images captured by different equipments. Then, we used ResNet34 CNN architecture to extract features and perform classifications. The overall accuracy of the models was over 90%. Interestingly, the models can be successfully generalized to images captured by other devices with different illuminations. The good effectiveness and generalization of our framework may provide objective and convenient computer-aided tongue diagnostic method on tracking disease progression and evaluating pharmacological effect from a informatics perspective.

Abstract Background The symbiotic rumen microbiota is essential for the digestion of plant fibers and contributes to the variation of production and health traits in ruminants. However, to date, the heritability of rumen microbial features and host genetic components associated with the rumen microbiota, as well as whether such genetic components are animal performance relevant, are largely unknown. Results In the present study, we assessed rumen microbiota from a cohort of 709 beef cattle and showed that multiple factors including breed, sex, and diet drove the variation of rumen microbiota among animals. The diversity indices, the relative abundance of ~ 34% of microbial taxa (59 out of 174), and the copy number of total bacteria had a heritability estimate (h 2) ≥ 0.15, suggesting that they are heritable elements affected by host additive genetics. These moderately heritable rumen microbial features were also found to be associated with host feed efficiency traits and rumen metabolic measures (volatile fatty acids). Moreover, 19 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located on 12 bovine chromosomes were found to be associated with 14 (12 of them had h 2 ≥ 0.15) rumen microbial taxa, and five of these SNPs were known quantitative trait loci for feed efficiency in cattle. Conclusions These findings suggest that some rumen microbial features are heritable and could be influenced by host genetics, highlighting a potential to manipulate and obtain a desirable and efficient rumen microbiota using genetic selection and breeding. It could be a useful strategy to further improve feed efficiency and optimize rumen fermentation through targeting both cattle and their rumen microbiota.

Abstract Introduction Using brain network and graph theory methods to analyze the Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) abnormal brain function is more and more popular. Plenty of potential methods have been proposed, but the representative signal of each brain region in these methods remains poor performance. Methods We propose a highly‐available nodes approach for constructing brain network of patients with MCI and AD. With resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) data of 84 AD subjects, 81 MCI subjects, and 82 normal control (NC) subjects from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Database, we construct connected weighted brain networks based on the different sparsity and minimum spanning tree. Support Vector Machine of Radial Basis Function kernel was selected as classifier. Results Accuracies of 74.09% and 77.58% in classification of MCI and AD from NC, respectively. We also performed a hub node analysis and found 18 significant brain regions were identified as hub nodes. Conclusions The findings of this study provide insights for helping understanding the progress of the AD. The proposed method highlights the effectively representative time series of brain regions of rs‐fMRI data for construction and topology analysis brain network.

Bis(1-methoxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-4-yl)sebacate (NORSM) was found to perform an exceptional synergistic effect with tris(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine (TTBPC)/Sb2O3 in HIPS. The LOI of fire retardant HIPS (FR-HIPS) with 16 wt% of TTBPC/Sb2O3 increased from 23.8% to 25.2%, the flame retardant rating of FR-HIPS was improved from UL 94 V-2 to UL 94 V-0, and various heat release parameters such as peak heat release rate, total heat release, and mean effective heat of combustion were greatly lowered by combining NORSM of 0.50 wt%. The Py-GC/MS results revealed that NORSM induced the role of synergistic effect; the main mechanisms were as follows: the active radicals such as methoxy radicals and aminyl radicals produced by the pyrolysis of NORSM promote the release of bromine radicals from TTBPC and the formation of HBr and CO2, which improves the flame retardancy of TTBPC/Sb2O3; the above active radicals, together with HBr, quench active free radicals, such as the hydroxyl radical (OH), and decompose the free radical source, which interrupts the chain reaction during combustion and results in a more efficient flame retardant effect in gaseous phase.

Background/Aim: The purpose of this study was to establish a modified rat model with functional dyspepsia (FD) and analyze the changes in gastrointestinal motility and brain-gut peptide levels in serum and brain-gut axis. Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats were divided into control group (Con) and FD model group. FD model was established by stimulating semi-starvation rats via tail damping, provocation, and forced exercise fatigue until gastrointestinal motility disorder appeared, and then levels of motilin, leptin, cholecystokinin (CCK), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) were detected in serum by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay and in duodenum, antrum, and hypothalamus by immunohistochemistry, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot. Results: The results showed rates of intestinal propulsion and gastric emptying slowed down markedly compared to Con (P < 0.05), the gastrointestinal electric activity attenuated, and migrating motor complex (MMC) interrupted in the model group. The levels of leptin and VIP markedly increased, but motilin decreased as compared to the Con (P < 0.05) in serum and in the above tissues. It is interesting that the level of CCK decreased in the antrum and duodenum but increased in the hypothalamus as compared to Con (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The modified rat model meets the diagnostic criteria of FD and can be used as a method for studying FD in animals.

Five new thiohydantoin derivatives (1–5) were isolated from the rhizomes of Lepidium meyenii Walp. NMR (1H and 13C NMR, 1H−1H COSY, HSQC, and HMBC), HRESIMS, and ECD were employed for the structure elucidation of new compounds. Significantly, the structure of compound 1 was the first example of thiohydantoins with thioxohexahydroimidazo [1,5-a] pyridine moiety. Additionally, compounds 2 and 3 possess rare disulfide bonds. Except for compound 4, all isolates were assessed for neuroprotective activities in corticosterone (CORT)-stimulated PC12 cell damage. Among them, compound (−)-3 exhibited moderate neuroprotective activity (cell viability: 68.63%, 20 μM) compared to the positive control desipramine (DIM) (cell viability: 88.49%, 10 μM).

Oral supplemented nutraceuticals derived from food sources are surmised to improve the human health through interaction with the gastrointestinal bacteria. However, the lack of fundamental quality control and authoritative consensus (e.g., formulation, route of administration, dose, and dosage regimen) of these non-medical yet bioactive compounds are one of the main practical issues resulting in inconsistent individual responsiveness and confounded clinical outcomes of consuming nutraceuticals. Herein, we studied the dose effects of widely used food supplement, microalgae spirulina (Arthrospira platensis), on the colonic microbiota and physiological responses in healthy male Balb/c mice. Based on the analysis of 16s rDNA sequencing, compared to the saline-treated group, oral administration of spirulina once daily for 24 consecutive days altered the diversity, structure, and composition of colonic microbial community at the genus level. More importantly, the abundance of microbial taxa was markedly differentiated at the low (1.5 g/kg) and high (3.0 g/kg) dose of spirulina, among which the relative abundance of Clostridium XIVa, Desulfovibrio, Eubacterium, Barnesiella, Bacteroides, and Flavonifractor were modulated at various degrees. Evaluation of serum biomarkers in mice at the end of spirulina intervention showed reduced the oxidative stress and the blood lipid levels and increased the level of appetite controlling hormone leptin in a dose-response manner, which exhibited the significant correlation with differentially abundant microbiota taxa in the cecum. These findings provide direct evidences of dose-related modulation of gut microbiota and physiological states by spirulina, engendering its future mechanistic investigation of spirulina as potential sources of prebiotics for beneficial health effects via the interaction with gut microbiota.

CdTe nanocrystal (NC) solar cells have received much attention in recent years due to their low cost and environmentally friendly fabrication process. Nowadays, the back contact is still the key issue for further improving device performance. It is well known that, in the case of CdTe thin-film solar cells prepared with the close-spaced sublimation (CSS) method, Cu-doped CdTe can drastically decrease the series resistance of CdTe solar cells and result in high device performance. However, there are still few reports on solution-processed CdTe NC solar cells with Cu-doped back contact. In this work, ZnTe:Cu or Cu:Au back contact layer (buffer layer) was deposited on the CdTe NC thin film by thermal evaporation and devices with inverted structure of ITO/ZnO/CdSe/CdTe/ZnTe:Cu (or Cu)/Au were fabricated and investigated. It was found that, comparing to an Au or Cu:Au device, the incorporation of ZnTe:Cu as a back contact layer can improve the open circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) due to an optimized band alignment, which results in enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE). By carefully optimizing the treatment of the ZnTe:Cu film (altering the film thickness and annealing temperature), an excellent PCE of 6.38% was obtained, which showed a 21.06% improvement compared with a device without ZnTe:Cu layer (with a device structure of ITO/ZnO/CdSe/CdTe/Au).

The low frequency errors (LFE) of star trackers are the most penalizing errors for high-accuracy satellite attitude determination. Two test star trackers- have been mounted on the Space Technology Experiment and Climate Exploration (STECE) satellite, a small satellite mission developed by China. To extract and compensate the LFE of the attitude measurements for the two test star trackers, a new approach, called Fourier analysis, combined with the Vondrak filter method (FAVF) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the LFE of the two test star trackers’ attitude measurements are analyzed and extracted by the FAVF method. The remarkable orbital reproducibility features are found in both of the two test star trackers’ attitude measurements. Then, by using the reproducibility feature of the LFE, the two star trackers’ LFE patterns are estimated effectively. Finally, based on the actual LFE pattern results, this paper presents a new LFE compensation strategy. The validity and effectiveness of the proposed LFE compensation algorithm is demonstrated by the significant improvement in the consistency between the two test star trackers. The root mean square (RMS) of the relative Euler angle residuals are reduced from [27.95′′, 25.14′′, 82.43′′], 3σ to [16.12′′, 15.89′′, 53.27′′], 3σ.

In the title compound, [Cd2I4(C24H22N4)2], the 1,3-bis[(2-methyl-1H-benzimidazol-1-yl)methyl]benzene ligand bridges two CdI2 units, forming a centrosymmetric dinuclear complex. The CdII atom adopts a distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry. In the crystal, complex molecules are linked into columns parallel to [101] by π–π stacking interactions, with centroid–centroid distances of 3.558 (2) Å.