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Numerous reported bioinspired osmotic energy conversion systems employing cation‐/anion‐selective membranes and solutions with different salinity are actually far from the biological counterpart. The iso‐osmotic power generator with the specific ionic permselective channels (e.g. K+ or Na+ channels) which just allow specific ions to get across and iso‐osmotic solutions still remain challenges. Inspired by nature, we report a bioinspired K+‐channel by employing a K+ selective ligand, 1,1,1‐tris{[(2′‐benzylaminoformyl)phenoxy]methyl}ethane (BMP) and graphene oxide membrane. Specifically, the K+ and Na+ selectivity of the prepared system could reach up to ≈17.8, and the molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the excellent permselectivity of K+ mainly stemmed from the formed suitable channel size. Thus, we assembled the K+‐selective iso‐osmotic power generator (KSIPG) with the power density up to ≈15.1 mW/m2 between equal concentration solutions, which is higher than traditional charge‐selective osmotic power generator (CSOPG). The proposed strategy has well shown the realizable approach to construct single‐ion selective channels‐based highly efficient iso‐osmotic energy conversion systems and would surely inspire new applications in other fields, including self‐powered systems and medical materials, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous reported bioinspired osmotic energy conversion systems employing cation‐/anion‐selective membranes and solutions with different salinity are actually far from the biological counterpart. The iso‐osmotic power generator with the specific ionic permselective channels (e.g. K+ or Na+ channels) which just allow specific ions to get across and iso‐osmotic solutions still remain challenges. Inspired by nature, we report a bioinspired K+‐channel by employing a K+ selective ligand, 1,1,1‐tris{[(2′‐benzylaminoformyl)phenoxy]methyl}ethane (BMP) and graphene oxide membrane. Specifically, the K+ and Na+ selectivity of the prepared system could reach up to ≈17.8, and the molecular dynamics simulation revealed that the excellent permselectivity of K+ mainly stemmed from the formed suitable channel size. Thus, we assembled the K+‐selective iso‐osmotic power generator (KSIPG) with the power density up to ≈15.1 mW/m2 between equal concentration solutions, which is higher than traditional charge‐selective osmotic power generator (CSOPG). The proposed strategy has well shown the realizable approach to construct single‐ion selective channels‐based highly efficient iso‐osmotic energy conversion systems and would surely inspire new applications in other fields, including self‐powered systems and medical materials, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is the most common pathologic type of colon cancer. Metastasis is responsible for the high mortality rate of patients with COAD. The gene, metastasis-associated in colon cancer 1 (MACC1), is a biomarker predictive of both metastatic and metastasis-free survival in patients with colon cancer and other solid tumors. However, the underlying mechanism by which MACC1 affect COAD progression and metastasis remains unknown. In this study, we analyzed the expression level and prognostic value of MACC1, as well as their correlation, in patients with various types of cancer included in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases. High MACC1 expression was found to be significantly associated with poor prognosis in patients with COAD. Analysis of the potential upstream miRNA of MACC1 showed that miR-642a-5p was downregulated in COAD and was negatively correlated with MACC1 expression. Analysis of the upstream regulators of miR-642a-5p showed that the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) ZFAS1was the most likely upstream regulator of miR-642a-5p. In addition, the expression of MACC1 correlated positively with tumor immune cell infiltration, as well as with the levels of biomarkers of five kinds of immune cells. In summary, these findings suggest that MACC1 contributes to COAD progression and immune cell infiltration via the ZFAS1/miR-642a-5p/MACC1 axis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a cephalopod with a short life cycle, the Dosidicus gigas (jumbo flying squid) is extremely sensitive to climate variability and marine environment changes in terms of individual growth and resource changes. Based on 7514 D. gigas samples collected off Peru from 2008 to 2020, the fishery biological characteristics such as size, sexual maturity, and size‐at‐maturity were analyzed to explore the impacts of climate variability on individual growth. The results showed that there were significant differences in the relationship between mantle length and body weight and in the composition of sexual maturity between male and female individuals in different years (P <.05). La Niña events were conducive to the individual growth of D. gigas and slowed down their sexual maturity, producing D. gigas groups in medium and large sizes; El Niño events inhibited the individual growth of D. gigas and accelerated their sexual maturity, producing D. gigas groups in a smaller size. From 2008 to 2020, the mantle length of the small‐size group decreased by 46 mm, while that of the medium‐size group increased by 28 mm. Size‐at‐maturity of female D. gigas decreased by 201.2 mm and that of male D. gigas decreased by 143 mm. The study concluded that the changes in the marine environment caused by climate variability from 2008 to 2020 have had a significant impact on the population structure, growth, and development of the D. gigas off Peru. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new uncertainty quantification framework for power flow (PF) and optimal power flow (OPF) considering the nonlinear correlations of uncertain power injections with limited information. The D-Vine copula is leveraged to capture the nonlinear correlations among uncertain power injections from historical data. This is further integrated with the evidence theory and the reformulated quadratic affine form to obtain PF and OPF results. The D-Vine copula and evidence theory allow one to effectively eliminate the explosive-growth joint focal elements of large-scale power system with large numbers of partial known uncertain power injections, leading to significant reduction of computing time. The reformulated quadratic affine form aims at characterizing the PF and OPF outputs with partially known uncertain power injections in a simple form based on Dempster-Shafer structure, yielding further computational efficiency improvement without the loss of accuracy. Comparison results with other alternatives show that the proposed framework leads to more accurate PF and OPF outcomes while achieving high computational efficiency for large-scale power systems with large numbers of nonlinear correlated power injections in presence of limited information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • SERPINB5 is highly expressed in colorectal tumors, and its overexpression promotes the invasion, proliferation, and migration of CRC cells. • High expression of SERPINB5 is positively correlated with CEA levels, N stage, and lymphatic invasion, but negatively correlated with progression-free survival. • SERPINB5 expression induces EMT and angiogenesis by activating the TNF-α/NF-κB pathway. • The TNF-α/NF-κB pathway-specific inhibitor QNZ can reverse the tumorigenic effects of SERPINB5 on CRC cells. This study aimed to investigate the role of SERPINB5 in colorectal cancer (CRC). We established knockdown and overexpression models of SERPINB5 in CRC cells and conducted bioinformatics analysis to assess the clinicopathological significance of SERPINB5 expression in CRC patients. Human CRC cells were transfected with LV-SERPINB5 and sh-SERPINB5 lentivirus for subsequent functional and mechanistic studies. Results showed that high SERPINB5 expression correlated positively with CEA levels, N stage and lymphatic infiltration, while displaying a negative correlation with progression-free survival. Overexpression of SERPINB5 in CRC cells upregulated the expression of TNF-α, p-NF-κB/p65, N-cadherin, MMP2 and MMP9, accompanied by decreased E-cadherin expression. In addition, SERPINB5 overexpression enhanced the migration, invasion, and proliferation of CRC cells. Furthermore, overexpression of SERPINB5 in CRC cells increased VEGFA expression, and the conditioned medium from SERPINB5-overexpressing CRC cells promoted tube formation of HUVECs. Conversely, overexpression of SERPINB5 in HUVECs decreased VEGFA expression and inhibited tube formation. Notably, these changes in CRC cells were reversed by QNZ, a specific inhibitor of the TNF-α/NF-κB pathway. In summary, our findings revealed that high SERPINB5 expression correlated with poor progression-free survival in CRC patients. Moreover, SERPINB5 could induce EMT and angiogenesis by activating the TNF-α/NF-κB pathway, thereby promoting the invasion and migration of CRC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] Microchip has long been studied and facilitated recent investigations in multiple biomedical and material fields. The advances in functional materials triggered several leaps in the development of microchip technology. Microarray chip, benefiting from micropatterning and nucleic acid nanotechnology, was firstly introduced around 1980 and rapidly facilitated genomics, proteomics, and biodetections. In the following generation, the microfluidic chips, raised from microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and soft lithography, are revolutionizing several areas like biology, material fabrication, energy, and environmental science. More recently, the advances in materials fabrication keep expanding the frontiers of microchip platforms, like nanoscale fabrications and flexible device manufacturing. One of the most promising platforms is the wettability-patterned materials inspired by ubiquitous natural wetting creatures such as lotus leaf, spider silk, and Stenocara beetles. The unique property of handling liquids with no sophisticated equipment potentially facilitated the current microchip platform by combining the merits of microarray and microfluidics, and in turn, benefits material communities and beyond. In this featured article, we briefly introduce the state of art technologies to fabricate wettability-patterned chips and highlight some proof-of-concept demonstration of its emerging applications in material and biomedical science. We also give an outlook on its further developments including machine-learning micropattern manufacturing technology and reveal its potentiality to revolute several scientific areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual inertia controllers (VICs) for wind turbine generators (WTGs) have been recently developed to compensate the reduction of inertia in power systems. However, VICs can induce drivetrain torsional oscillations of WTGs. This paper addresses this issue and develops a novel nonlinear VIC based on objective holographic feedback theory and the definition of a completely controllable system of Brunovsky type. Simulation results under various scenarios demonstrate that the proposed technique outperforms existing VICs in terms of enhancement of system frequency nadir, suppression of WTG drivetrain torsional oscillations, fast and smooth recovery of WTG rotor speed to the original maximum power point (MPP) before the disturbance as well as preventing secondary frequency dip caused by traditional VIC. The proposed technique is also able to adaptively coordinate multiple WTGs to enhance the frequency support and the dynamic performance of each WTG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Use of real-world data (RWD) is gaining wide attention. To bridge the gap between diverse healthcare stakeholders and to leverage the impact of Chinese real-world evidence (RWE) globally, a multi-stakeholder External Advisory Committee (EAC) and EAC meetings were initiated, aiming to elucidate the current and evolving RWD landscape in China, articulate the values of RWE in ensuring Chinese patients' equitable access to affordable medicines and solutions, and identify strategic opportunities and partnerships for expansion of RWE generation in China. Chinese and international experts who are clinicians and academic researchers were selected as EAC members based on their professional background and familiarity with RWD/RWE. Three EAC meetings were held quarterly in 2023. Various topics were presented and discussed for insights and suggestions. Nine experts from China, one from South Korea, and two from Europe were selected as EAC members and attended these meetings. Experts' presentations were summarized by theme, including the RWD landscape and RWE enablement in China, as well as global development of a patient-centric ecosystem. Experts' insights and suggestions on maximizing the RWD/RWE value to accelerate healthcare transformation in China were collected. We concluded that though data access, sharing, and quality are still challenging, RWD is developing to support evidence generation in the medicinal product lifecycle, inform clinical practice, and empower patient management in China. RWD/RWE creates value, accelerates healthcare transformation, and improves patient outcomes. Fostering a patient-centric ecosystem across healthcare stakeholders and maintaining global partnerships and collaboration are essential for unlocking the power of RWD/RWE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current the surveillance and management are controversial for patients with IPMN. We aimed to develop an alternative nomogram to individualize IPMN prognosis and LNM. Methods: Based on the data from SEER database of patients diagnosed with IPMN between 2004 and 2015, a nomogram predicting the survival and LNM of IPMN based on univariate and multivariate and Lasso regression analysis was performed, internally and externally validated, and measured by C‐index, and decision curve analysis (DCA), and compared to the 7th TNM stage. Results: A total of 941 patients were included. Age, T stage examined nodes, tumor size, and pathology grade were identified as an independent factor for predicting LNM. The nomogram we established to predict LNM had a high predicting value with a C‐index value of 0.735 and an AUC value of 0.753. Interestingly, including T1 stage, we found an inverse correlation was between age and LNM. In addition, nomogram for predicting CSS also performed better than TNM stage both in the internal validation group (1‐year AUC:0.753 vs. 0.693, 3‐year AUC: 0.801 vs. 0.731, 5‐year AUC: 0.803 vs. 0.733) and external validation group (1‐year AUC: 0.761 vs. 0.701, 3‐year AUC: 0.772 vs. 0.713, 5‐year AUC:0.811 vs. 0.735). DCA analysis showed the nomogram showed a greater benefit across the period of follow‐up compared to 7th TNM stage. Conclusion: A nomogram based on multivariate and Lasso regression analysis showed great clinical usability compared with current criteria. Also, for LNM of IPMN, younger age patients with IPMN should be attached more importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, an improved dc capacitor voltage balancing control is proposed for single-phase cascaded H-bridge (CHB) multilevel converters. Compared with conventional voltage balancing control methods, the proposed scheme has a comprehensive consideration of three aspects while balancing the capacitor voltages among H-bridges: coupling effect elimination, reactive power balancing, and dynamic performance improvement. First, the system mathematical model in the d–q reference frame is derived, and the relationship among duty cycle modifications of H-bridges is revealed to eliminate the coupling effect of voltage balancing control on the current control loop. Then, based on the H-bridge power model, a quantitative solution for reactive power balancing is presented to design the reactive duty cycle modifications. In order to enhance the dynamic performance of voltage balancing control, a dynamic references design method is adopted to evaluate the active duty cycle modifications. Finally, both simulation and experimental results are presented to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of layer-by-layer assembly technique for solar energy conversion is comprehensively elucidated and summarized. [Display omitted] • Design principle for Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly is elucidated. • Latest developments of LbL-assembled photocatalysts and photoelectrodes are recapitulated. • Structure-performance correlation of LbL-assembled nanoarchitectures is unleashed. Heterostructured photosystems constructed by exquisite interface engineering have sprung up in solar-powered photocatalysis and photoelectrocatalysis, and have been attracting enduring interest in the past few decades. Among the diverse synthesis strategies, layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly offers a promising and robust platform for design of multifarious spatially multilayered nanoarchitectures by virtue of simplicity, versatility, easy accessibility and universality. However, LbL self-assembly of multilayered photocatalysts and photoelectrodes are in the infant stage. In this review, fundamental understanding on LbL assembly including principle, molecular interaction, influencing factors, and operation methods are concisely introduced. Most importantly, we comprehensively summarized the latest developments on LbL assembly of spatially multilayered nanoarchitectures with multiple dimensionalities and elucidated their advantages in fabricating high-performance photocatalysts and photoelectrodes. Furthermore, applications of LbL-assembled nanoarchitectures in diverse fields including environmental remediation, hydrogen production, selective organic transformation, and photoelectrochemical water splitting are systematically introduced. It is expected that our review can provide enriched information on rational design and construction of LbL assembled nanostructures for solar energy conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of fungal fruiting bodies from a hyphal thallus is inducible under low temperature (cold stress). The molecular mechanism has been subject to surprisingly few studies. Analysis of gene expression level has become an important means to study gene function and its regulation mechanism. But identification of reference genes (RGs) stability under cold stress have not been reported in famous medicinal mushroom-forming fungi Cordyceps militaris. Herein, 12 candidate RGs had been systematically validated under cold stress in C. militaris. Three different algorithms, geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper were applied to evaluate the expression stability of the RGs. Our results showed that UBC and UBQ were the most stable RGs for cold treatments in short and long periods, respectively. 2 RGs (UBC and PP2A) and 3 RGs (UBQ, TUB and CYP) were the suitable RGs for cold treatments in short and long periods, respectively. Moreover, target genes, two-component-system histidine kinase genes, were selected to validate the most and least stable RGs under cold treatment, which indicated that use of unstable expressed genes as RGs leads to biased results. Our results provide a good starting point for accurate reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction normalization by using UBC and UBQ in C. militaris under cold stress and better support for understanding the mechanism of response to cold stress and fruiting body formation in C. militaris and other mushroom-forming fungi in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new computational attractive interval power flow (PF) approach with correlated uncertain power injections while maintaining high estimation accuracy. The key idea is to integrate the ellipsoid convex model with the evidence theory. This allows us to effectively account for uncertain power injection correlations and eliminate irrelevant focal elements, yielding significantly improved computational efficiency. Extensive comparisons with other approaches demonstrate its effectiveness under various conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a series of butylene tethered heteronuclear 7‐fluoroisatin‐isatin scaffolds 4a to 4h were designed and synthesized, and the antimycobacterial activity profiles, cytotoxicity together with inhibitory activity against MTB DNA gyrase, were also investigated. All the synthesized heteronuclear scaffolds were active against MTB H37Rv and MDR‐MTB strains, and some of them were more potent than isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), ethambutol (EMB) against MDR‐MTB strain. The structure‐activity relationship demonstrated that the substituents on C‐3 position of 7‐fluoroisatin and isatin moieties were closely related with the activity, and hydrogen bond donors were favorable to the activity. Scaffolds with different substituents showed higher activity than the analogs with the same substituents at this position of the two isatin motifs, which may be attributed to the synergistic effect. Among them, the most active scaffold 4e (MIC: 1 and 4 μg/mL) was comparable with the first‐line anti‐TB agent EMB against MTB H37Rv, and ≥16‐fold more potent than INH, RIF, and EMB against MDR‐MTB strain, demonstrating its potential for fighting against infections caused by both drug‐sensitive and MDR MTB strains. Moreover, scaffold 4e also possessed excellent toxicological profiles and promising inhibitory activity against MTB DNA gyrase. Thus, scaffold 4e could act as an ideal platform for further optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify whether the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) analysis has the potential to serve as a biological marker to detect alcohol-induced spontaneous brain activities and distinguish the patients with alcohol dependence from the healthy subjects. Methods: We utilized the ALFF analysis to report on the alcohol-induced spontaneous brain activities in 29 patients with alcohol dependence (9 female, 20 male) relative to 29 status-matched healthy subjects (11 female, 18 male). Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to test the ability of the ALFF analysis in discriminating the patients with alcohol dependence from the healthy subjects. Pearson correlation was used to evaluate the relationships between the signal value of those ALFF differences in brain areas and behavioral characteristics.Results: Alcohol-induced brain differences located in the right inferior parietal lobule and right supplementary motor area with significant higher ALFF values, and in the left precuneus and bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe with lower ALFF values. The movement-related areas were significantly correlated with each other (P<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve revealed good area under the curve values (mean, 0.86±0.079; 0.774–0.951) of the ALFF differences in those specific brain areas, as well as high degree of sensitivities (mean, 80.84%±14.01% or 80%±14.56%; 62.5%–100%) and specificities (mean, 83.32%±9.31%; 70.8%–95.8% or 84.16%±8%; 75%–95.8%). Conclusion: The ALFF analysis may serve as a biological indicator to detect the spontaneous brain activities in patients with alcohol dependence. The prefrontal–parietal–cerebellar circuit appears to be disturbed by long-term alcoholism in patients with alcohol dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is responsible for the resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as gefitinib and erlotinib, and is thereby associated with the progression of tumors in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Immunoblotting results revealed that geranylgeranyl transferase 1 inhibitor (GGTI)-298, a geranylgeranyl transferase 1 inhibitor with potential antitumor effects, effectively inhibited the phosphorylation of EGFR and its downstream target protein kinase B (AKT). A combination of gefitinib and GGTI-298 amplified the inhibition of the EGFR-AKT signaling pathway. In addition, GGTI-298 treatment produced a synergistic effect on the inhibition of proliferation as indicated by the combination index values of <1 when combined with gefitinib in the NSCLC cell lines HCC827 and A549. These synergistic effects were also observed to induce apoptosis and migration inhibition. Further mechanistic studies demonstrated that GGTI-298 inhibited the activity of Ras homolog family member A (RhoA), and downregulation of RhoA with small interfering RNA impaired the phosphorylation of EGFR, which suggested that EGFR inhibition by GGTI-298 may be exerted mainly through RhoA mediation. These results presented a novel, promising therapeutic strategy involving a combination of two drugs for targeting EGFR signaling in lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Quantum nonlocality and quantum contextuality are the most curious properties that change our understanding of nature, and were observed independently in recent decades. One important question is whether both properties can be observed simultaneously. In this paper, we show that in a qutrit-qutrit system we can observe quantum nonlocality and quantum contextuality at the same time. From the perspective of quantum information, our experiment proves in principle that the two resources, quantum nonlocality and quantum contextuality, can be utilized simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuberculosis (TB), which affects primarily the lungs (pulmonary TB) apart from other vital organs, is a life‐threatening chronic deadliest infectious disease caused by members of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex and mainly by MTB itself. The emergence of MTB new virulent forms that are resistant to some or all first‐line and second‐line anti‐TB agents, including multidrug‐resistant (MDR), extensively drug‐resistant, and totally drug‐resistant strains has further aggravated the spread of this disease and was increased up to an alarming level in the recent decades. More than ever, it is imperative to develop novel, high effective, and fast acting anti‐TB drugs to prevent the spread of TB, particularly in its hard‐to‐kill MDR‐TB, extensively drug‐resistant‐TB, and totally drug‐resistant‐TB strains. In recent years, numerous compounds have been synthesized for this purpose, but only a handful of compounds have entered human trials after the discovery of rifampicin, reflecting the inherent difficulties of developing new anti‐TB agents. Despite of bedaquiline and delamanid have received approval from many countries for treatment of MDR‐TB infected patients, both drugs are associated with serious side effects and are only recommended for those MDR‐TB patients without other treatment options. All these aforementioned facts make it an urgent need to develop novel drugs. Quinoline‐based derivatives including quinolones ex biological activities, and some of them displayed excellent in vitro and in vivo activities against MDR‐TB. This review outlines the recent developments of quinoline‐based derivatives with potential activity against MDR‐TB as well as the structure–activity relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of novel 1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐tethered isatin–coumarin hybrids 7a–l integrate three anti‐tuberculosis bioactive substances/pharmacophoric units including coumarin, isatin, and I‐A09 were designed, synthesized, and tested for their in vitro anti‐mycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv as well as cytotoxicity in VERO cell line. The results showed that all hybrids exhibited weak to moderate activity against the tested two strains with minimum inhibitory concentration ranging from 50 to 200 μg/mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) applications with the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), the geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) offers an important index for selecting satellites from all tracked satellites for positioning calculation. In general, the lower the GDOP values are, the more accurate the PNT solution is. Therefore, the GDOP minimum should be pursued. In this paper, we mainly focused on the GDOP minimum when the single-point positioning is based on the integration of three GNSSs. The GDOP minimum for any number of tracked satellites is theoretically derived in this paper. In addition, when the number of the satellites is equal to that of the unknown parameters, the correctness of GDOP minimum obtained has also been validated from two different perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) is through consumption of carnivorous fish and seafood to cause neurotoxicity. Carnivorous fish, especially fresh shark meat and its product are often used in Taiwan. This study is first to determine the shark species from fresh shark meats and smoked shark meats using genome sequencing. Additionally, the level of MeHg in a part of these shark meats was measured by using liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LC/ICP-MS). Based on these MeHg levels, the risk of MeHg exposure of the shark meat consumption was assayed by utilizing the estimated weekly intake (EWI) and hazard quotient (HQ) of MeHg for the children of 3–18 ages. The results indicate the major species of fresh shark meats is Prionace glauca , and the minor species includes critically endangered species Rhynchobatus australiae and vulnerable species Alopias superciliosus. The level of MeHg was below 2 mg/kg in most shark meats, which is consistent with the Taiwan standard limit. However, the level of MeHg in some samples of shark meats was more than 2 mg/kg. Importantly, higher level of MeHg was found in smoked shark meat than that in fresh shark meat. Another, the level of HQ was more than 1, which is a criterial risk point, for children to ingest a little shark meat for children of 3–12 ages. The results indicate that the dietary intake of shark meat or smoked shark meat is danger for 3–12 years old children. • The conserved species were found in fresh shark meats. • Methylmercury level in smoked shark meats was higher than in fresh one. • The dietary intake of shark meat or smoked shark meat is danger for children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Age determination of the jumbo squid ( Dosidicus gigas) has been successfully carried out over its geographic range based on the use of the rings present in the statoliths. In this study, we propose an additional method to identify ages of D. gigas off the Ecuadorian and Chilean Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) waters by using upper beak rostrum sagittal section (RSS) analysis. Our results show periodic growth increments and occasional checks located in the RSS surface. Growth increments meet at the internal rostral axis in the shape of chevron, and the marks in the hood are more discernable and clearer than in the crest. As has been suggested for octopi, checks are thought to represent temperature oscillation and reproductive events. Growth increments are laid down in the RSS daily, and numbers were similar to the numbers of increments used to determine age in statoliths. There was a significant regional difference in age but not in increment width when mantle length effects were considered, where squid off the warm Ecuadorian EEZ waters had a shorter lifespan and higher somatic growth in mantle length than those in the temperate Chilean EEZ waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives:To study the risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in-patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods:A total of 1371 cases of adult in-patients with AMI in the First People's Hospital of Changzhou from January 2008 to December 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Based on the occurrence of AKI diagnosed according to the 2012 KDIGO AKI criteria, they were divided into AKI group and non-AKI group and further into conservative treatment groups, coronary angiography (CAG) groups, and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) groups based on the timing of AKI occurrence, respectively. Related risk factors of AKI were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regressions. Results:410 (29.9%) developed AKI. Patients with AKI had significantly increased in-hospital mortality than patients without AKI. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that decreased baseline eGFR, increased fasting plasma glucose (FPG), use of diuretics and Killip grade IV were independent risk factors of AKI, while increased DBP on admission was a protective factor for patients in conservative treatment group. Decreased baseline eGFR, increased FPG, use of diuretics, intraoperative hypotension and acute infection were independent risk factors of AKI for patients in the CAG group. Decreased baseline eGFR, increased FPG, use of diuretics and low cardiac output syndrome after operation were independent risk factors of AKI for patients in the CABG group. Conclusions:AKI is a common complication and associated with increased mortality after AMI. Decreased baseline renal function, increased FPG and use of diuretics were common independent risk factors of AKI after AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A ZW-ZZ sex determination system was previously proposed based on sex linkage analysis in the Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis. In this study, we successfully identified a sex-specific marker from sex-linked markers in the genetic map and verified in different wild populations of E. sinensis. To further identify ZW chromosome DNA, we constructed a highly redundant genomic bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) library for the Chinese mitten crab. The library was generated from high-molecular weight genomic DNA isolated from hemocytes and muscle in a female crab, which was comprising of 153,984 clones arrayed in 401,384-well microtiter plates. The average inserts size is 72 kb, representing 8.7-fold haploid genome coverage. By using sex specific markers, PCR-based screening was performed to identify ZW-derived BAC clones. Three W and Z -derived BAC clones were isolated, respectively. One of W-derived (P282E18) BAC clones was sequenced and assembled into a 43 kb contig without any gap. The W-derived BAC inserts can be mapped to an assembled contig of E. sinensis genome with 95% similarity in the aligned region, demonstrating that the BAC library is a valuable resource for discriminating Z and W chromosome contigs in the assembled haploid genome. The sex-specific marker provides a powerful tool not only for distinguishing the gender of larval or early juvenile E. sinensis without sexual dimorphism and sex-reversed individuals in monosex crab breeding, but also for identification of ZW-derived BAC clones used in the assembly of Z and W chromosomes in E. sinensis. • A sex-specific marker was first identified in the mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis. • A genomic BAC library for Eriocheir sinensis was generated. • The ZW-derived BAC clones were identified for initial analysis of the crab sex chromosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intestinal microbiota-derived membrane vesicles (MVs) play essential roles in immunomodulation and maintenance of the intestinal micro-ecosystem. The relationship between MVs and chronic kidney disease (CKD) has remained undefined. This review provides a survey of the structure and biological function of different vesicle types and summarizes the possible pathogenic mechanisms mediated by MVs, which may be of great clinical significance in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic kidney disease. • Gram-negative bacteria as well as gram-positive bacteria can release membrane vesicles to promote cell-to-cell communication. • Intestinal microbiota-derived membrane vesicles are mediate inflammation, pyroptosis, immunomodulation, and disease development. • The cause of membrane vesicles related kidney diseases may be inflammation, cytokines activation, or intestine-kidney axis. • Intestinal microbiota-derived membrane vesicles may be a proposing therapeutic tool for the chronic kidney disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cephalopods exhibit a variety of movement patterns during their lifespan, from the passive drifting of eggs and paralarvae to the active long-distance migrations of adults between feeding and spawning grounds. However, it is difficult to observe directly the movements of cephalopods at these different stages of development. An alternative approach is the use of elemental signatures recorded in statoliths to gain valuable insight into cephalopod movement. Dosidicus gigas is an economically important squid that undertakes large-scale migrations over its lifespan to satisfy its habitat requirements at different life history stages. In this study we used D. gigas as an example to illustrate a new approach to reconstructing cephalopod migration patterns using the relationship between sea surface temperature and elemental signature analyses of statoliths. We found that statolith elemental signatures are a useful natural tag to ascertain D. gigas migration routes from juvenile to adult stages. This approach is not applicable to embryonic and paralarval stages during which movement is more likely passive and determined by ocean currents. The conclusions which can be drawn from this study improve our knowledge of the distribution and migration of juvenile and adult cephalopods. Supplementary trophic analyses using stable isotopes would further benefit the reconstruction of cephalopod migration pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microfluidic technology has shown advantages of low sample consumption, reduced analysis time, high throughput, and potential for integration and automation. Coupling microfluidic chips to mass spectrometry (Chip-MS) can greatly improve the overall analytical performance of MS-based approaches and expand their potential applications. In this article, we review the advances of Chip-MS in the past decade, covering innovations in microchip fabrication, microchips coupled to electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-MS. Development of integrated microfluidic systems for automated MS analysis will be further documented, as well as recent applications of Chip-MS in proteomics, metabolomics, cell analysis, and clinical diagnosis. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mass Spec Rev 34: 535-557, 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hexagonal phase NaY(OH) x F 4 −x : Sm ( x ≤ 0.5) with spindle shape has been successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. Influence of alkaline environment on the lattice parameters, thermal decomposition, morphology evolution and luminescence properties has been systematically investigated. The spindle shape is controlled by the intrinsic electric field, which is created by the replacement of F − with OH − and the crystallization process is involved in intermediate mesocrystals. In addition, the influence isomorphous anion substitution exerts on photoluminescence properties has been explored. The potential applications of NaY(OH) x F 4− x : Sm ( x ≤ 0.5) have been pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of growth increments in beak rostrum sagittal sections (RSSs) has been increasingly used for estimating octopus age. In this study, we develop an effective method to process and read the RSS of four oceanic ommastrephid squid species ( Dosidicus gigas, Ommastrephes bartramii, Illex argentinus and Sthenoteuthis oualaniensis) and validate the daily deposition of the increments by comparing to corresponding statolith-determined ages. The proposed method of processing yielded readable rates ranging from 42.9 % in I. argentinus to 71.7 % in D. gigas for samples from I. argentinus to D. gigas. The high precision of the increment readings with low independent counting coefficient of variation indicates that the processing and counting methods used are reliable. This study suggests that the RSS of the upper beak is an appropriate tool for estimating the age of D. gigas, O. bartramii and perhaps S. oualaniensis, although erosion of the rostral region may result in an underestimation of squid ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Signatures of trace elements and isotopes in the parts of hard structures formed in the early ontogenetic stages can be used as potential natural tags of adult cephalopods to trace their origins. The Jumbo flying squid, Dosidicus gigas, is widely distributed in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Fourteen detected elemental signatures (7Li, 23Na, 24Mg, 39K, 43Ca 55Mn, 59Co, 60Ni, 63Cu, 66Zn, 88Sr, 137Ba, 208Pb and 238U) were determined in the nuclear zone (N), representing the embryonic stage, and the postnuclear zone ( PN), representing the paralarval stage of statoliths for adult D. gigas collected off the Costa Rican, Peruvian and Chilean Exclusive Economic Zones ( EEZs) using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( LA- ICP- MS). All measured signatures were significantly different between embryonic and paralarval statoliths, except for Sr, Ba and Pb. Over the three regions, a significant difference was found for Na and Ba within embryonic statoliths and Zn and Ba within paralarval statoliths. A high Ba/Ca ratio in statoliths obtained from Costa Rica was because of the prevalence of strong upwelling in the area. Elemental signatures, especially Ba/Ca, in early ontogenetic statoliths could be used as a proxy for distinguishing different geographical groups and identifying natal origins. However, elemental signatures in embryonic statoliths tended to be a better natural tag than those in paralarval statoliths indicating that paralarvae with the same origin had distinct dispersal pathways. Additionally, stepwise discriminant analysis ( SDA) showed there were at least two migration-based groups: 'northern' and 'southern' in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Overall, the derived results can improve our knowledge of the population structure, connectivity and life history of D. gigas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telecom-band polarization-entangled photon-pair source has been widely used in quantum communication due to its acceptable transmission loss. It is also used in cooperation with wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) to construct entanglement distributor. However, previous schemes generally are not suitable for multinode scenario. In this paper, we construct a telecom-band polarization-entangled photon-pair source, and it shows ultrahigh fidelity and concurrence which are both greater than 90 % (raw data). Moreover, we set up a four-by-four entanglement distributor based on WDM. We check the 16 Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequalities, which show nonlocality. Lastly, as an example of practical application of this source, we estimate the quantum bit error rates and quantum secret key rates when it is used in quantum key distribution. Furthermore, the transmission of entanglement in long optical fibers is also demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The extent to which the presence of pleural adhesions affects the surgical and oncological outcomes of patients undergoing McKeown minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) for esophageal cancer (EC) has not previously been studied. Methods: Data of consecutive EC patients undergoing McKeown MIE by a single surgeon in the Department of Thoracic Surgery at Daping Hospital from November 2015 to December 2020 were collected. Patients were grouped according to the presence or absence of pleural adhesions when entering the chest cavity. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to reduce selection bias from confounding factors. Kaplan–Meier was used to assess the survival differences. Results: A total of 617 consecutive EC patients underwent McKeown MIE were enrolled. There were 116 patients with pleural adhesions (Group A) and 501 patients without pleural adhesions (Group B). Patients in Group A were more likely to be older than those of patients in Group B: (66.26 vs. 63.27, P = 0.001). In addition, Group A had more patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (24.1% vs. 16.8%, P = 0.04). After propensity score matching (102 matched patients in Group A and 185 matched patients in Group B), these findings were no longer statistically significant. Postoperative pulmonary infection occurred in 57 patients in Group A and in 15 patients in Group B (53.9% vs. 13.0%, P < 0.001). In addition, the presence of pleural adhesions was significantly associated with the prolonged operation time (232 min vs. 210 min, P <.001), length of stay (12 days vs. 10 days, P = 0.001), and hydrothorax requiring drainage (12.7% vs. 5.4%, P = 0.04). However, the disease-specific survival and disease-free survival rates were comparable between the two groups (P = 0.40 and 0.13, respectively). Conclusions: The presence of pleural adhesions predicted an increased operation time, length of stay, postoperative pneumonia, and hydrothorax requiring drainage of EC patients undergoing McKeown MIE, but did not exert unfavourable effect on long-term survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The immune response to post-translationally modified antigens is a key characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis. Carbamylation is such a posttranslational modification. Recently, we demonstrated that autoantibodies recognizing carbamylated proteins are present in sera of rheumatoid arthritis. The molecular mechanisms underlying the break of tolerance and hence the induction of anti-CarP antibody responses are unknown as well as their appearance in mouse models for systemic arthritis. Therefore we analyzed their appearance in the mouse collagen-induced arthritis model. Methods: collagen induced arthritis was induced by immunization with type II collagen in complete Freund's adjuvant. Arthritis severity was monitored by clinical scoring and anti-CarP antibody levels were determined by ELISA. Results: Anti-CarP antibodies were detectable in mice with collagen induced arthritis. We did not detect ACPA in mice with collagen induced arthritis. The specificity of the antibodies for carbamylated proteins was confirmed by inhibition assays and immunoblotting. Injection with complete Freund's adjuvant without type II collagen could also induce anti-CarP antibodies, however, in mice with arthritis, the anti-CarP antibody response was stronger and developed more rapidly. The onset of collagen induced arthritis was preceded by an increase of anti-CarP IgG2a levels in the serum. Conclusion: In mice with collagen induced arthritis we did not observe an immune response against citrullinated antigens, but we did observe an immune response against carbamylated antigens. This anti-CarP response already appeared before disease onset, indicating that collagen induced arthritis can be used as an in vivo model to study anti-CarP antibodies. Our data also indicate that the tolerance to carbamylated proteins, in contrast to the response to citrullinated proteins, is easily broken and that arthritis boosts the immune response against these proteins. The anti-CarP response in mice with CIA can be used as a model for immune responses to post-translationally modified proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Ce3+- and Tb3+-activated Ca 2 ZrSi 4 O 12 (CZSO) sample series were prepared by employing a solid-solid synthesis route at high temperatures. The phase composition and crystal structure of as-prepared phosphors were studied by x-ray diffraction (XRD). The ionic lattice occupation, photoluminescence properties, energy-transfer behaviors, decay time, and thermal stability were investigated systematically. With excitation of 322 nm, CZSO:0.01Ce3+ phosphor can produce an asymmetrical wide emission spectrum peaking at 382 nm, in which two types of emission centers (marked as Ce I and Ce Ⅱ) originated from Ce3+ occupying 9- and 8-coordinated Ca2+ sites have been identified and discussed. The Tb3+-activated CZSO phosphor can emit several narrow bands ranging from 350 to 650 nm, corresponding to the 5D i → 7F j (i = 3, 4; j = 3, 4, 5, 6) transitions of Tb3+. With the strategy of Ce3+ → Tb3+energy transfer (ET), intense blue-green light has been obtained in CZSO:Ce3+, Tb3+ samples. The ET mechanism was confirmed as dipole-dipole interaction using the critical distance equation suggested by Dexter and Readeld. The internal quantum efficiency (IQE) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of phosphor with optimum doping concentrations (CZSO:0.01Ce3+,0.045Tb3+) were calculated to be 59.2% and 32.7%, respectively. Furthermore, the ET process was verified to be dominated by Ce Ⅱ→Tb3+ through the analysis of spectra-shifting and lattice occupancy. The calculated chromaticity coordinates suggested by CIE can be adjusted from the blue position to the greenish-yellow region according to the variation of Tb3+ concentration. The experimental data indicate that the CZSO:Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors have potential value for NUV-based LEDs. ∙ A new NUV converting blue-green phosphor has been developed. ∙Multisite occupation and energy transfer behavior have been identified and discussed. ∙Red-shifting and blue-shifting in the singly doped and co-doped samples have been successfully explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] The intensity of NIR UC emission can be greatly enhanced by tuning the pH values. [•] The highest chromatic purity of NIR UC emission in the β-NaYF4 system is obtained. [•] The various morphologies of materials can be obtained by adjusting the pH values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shell-isolated nanoparticles (NPs)-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) can be potentially applied to virtually any substrate type and morphology. How to take a step forward to prepare SHINERS NPs (SHINs) with superior performance is critical for the practical applications of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) in the breadth and depth. Here, we present a method to obtain 120 nm diameter gold NPs coated with ultrathin silica shells (1-4 nm). The silica shell can be controlled growth through carefully tuning a series of parameters, such as amount of 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane used, pH, reaction time, and reaction temperature. We compare the enhancement factor of the obtained 120 nm Au with a 4 nm silica shell NPs to the 55 nm Au with a 4 nm silica shell NPs, and the activity of a 120 nm SHINs is nearly 24 times that the 55 nm SHIN from a single particle view. We also compare the enhancement factor of 1 nm silica shell Au@SiO2 NPs with the bare Au NPs. The enhancement factor of 1 nm silica shell Au@SiO2 NPs was found to be about twice that of the bare particles. For a deeper understanding of the source of the giant enhanced electrical field of the 1 nm silica shell Au@SiO2 NPs, we study the plasmonic property of single 1 nm silica shell Au@SiO2 NP on a gold film substrate through correlation of the structure of single NP using SEM with its SPR spectroscopy. We find that the multipolar interaction between the single Au@SiO2 NP and gold film substrate is important for the SERS. Our studies on the performance of 120 nm SHINs and the plasmonic property of these particles can significantly expand the applications of SHINERS technique and improve the understanding of physical nature of SHINs. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Laryngeal exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) evokes sensory irritation, but the mechanisms are largely unclear. The TRPA1 and TRPV1 receptors are two types of Ca2+-permeant channels located at the terminals of airway capsaicin-sensitive afferents. We investigated the mechanisms underlying the airway reflex evoked by laryngeal CS exposure in anesthetized rats. Methods: CS (7 ml) was delivered into a functionally isolated larynx, while the animals (n = 201) breathed spontaneously. Respiratory parameters were measured. All use of pharmacological agents involved pretreatment by laryngeal application. Results: Laryngeal CS exposure immediately evoked a concentration-dependant apneic response that was unrelated to the nicotine content of the CS. This inhibition of breathing was abolished by bilateral sectioning of the superior laryngeal nerves (SLNs) or by perineural capsaicin treatment of the SLNs (selective blocking of capsaicin-sensitive afferent neural conduction), suggesting the involvement of superior laryngeal capsaicin-sensitive afferents in the reflex. The reflex apnea was significantly attenuated by N-acetyl-l-cysteine (antioxidant), EGTA (extracellular Ca2+ chelator) and BAPTA-AM (intracellular Ca2+ chelator), indicating the importance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and Ca2+. This reflex apnea was also partially reduced by HC030031 (TRPA1 receptor antagonist) and capsazepine (TRPV1 receptor antagonist), and was nearly abolished by a combination of these two antagonists, suggesting a central role for the TRPA1 and TRPV1 receptors. Furthermore, the reflex apnea was attenuated by indomethacin (cyclooxygenase inhibitor); however, the attenuation by indomethacin was not increased by pretreatment with HC030031 or capsazepine, indicating that TRPA1 and TRPV1 receptor functionality is, at least in part, linked to cyclooxygenase metabolites. Conclusions: The reflex apnea evoked by laryngeal CS requires activation of both TRPA1 and TRPV1 receptors, which are likely to be located at the terminals of superior laryngeal capsaicin-sensitive afferents. Laryngeal sensory irritation by CS seems to depend on the actions of ROS and cyclooxygenase metabolites on these two types of receptors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In microbiological research, traditional methods for bacterial screening and antibiotic susceptibility testing are resource‐intensive. Microfluidics offers an efficient alternative with rapid results and minimal sample consumption, but the demand for cost‐effective, user‐friendly platforms persists in communities and hospitals. Inspired by the Magdeburg hemispheres, the strategy adapts to local conditions, leveraging omnipresent atmospheric pressure for self‐sealing of Rotation‐SlipChip (RSC) equipped with a 3D circular Christmas tree‐like microfluidic concentration gradient generator. This innovative approach provides an accessible and adaptable platform for microbiological research and testing in diverse settings. The RSC can avoid leakage concerns during multiple concentration gradient generation, chip‐rotating, and final long‐term incubation reaction (≥24 h). Furtherly, RSC subtypes adapted to different reactions can be fabricated in less than 15 min with cost less than $1, the result can be read through designated observational windows by naked‐eye. Moreover, the RSC demonstrates its capability for evaluating bacterial biomarker activity, enabling the rapid assessment of β‐galactosidase concentration and enzyme activity within 30 min, and the limit of detection can be reduced by 10‐fold. It also rapidly determines the minimum antibiotic inhibitory concentration and antibiotic combined medications results within 4 h. Overall, these low‐cost and user‐friendly RSC make them invaluable tools in determinations at previously impractical environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose Experimental Approach Key Results Conclusion and Implications Activation of the renin‐angiotensin system, as a hallmark of hypertension and chronic kidney diseases (CKD) is the key pathophysiological factor contributing to the progression of tubulointerstitial fibrosis. LIM and senescent cell antigen‐like domains protein 1 (LIMS1) plays an essential role in controlling of cell behaviour through the formation of complexes with other proteins. Here, the function and regulation of LIMS1 in angiotensin II (Ang II)‐induced hypertension and tubulointerstitial fibrosis was investigated.C57BL/6 mice were treated with Ang II to induce tubulointerstitial fibrosis. Hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α) renal tubular‐specific knockout mice or LIMS1 knockdown AAV was used to investigate their effects on Ang II‐induced renal interstitial fibrosis. In vitro, HIF‐1α or LIMS1 was knocked down or overexpressed in HK2 cells after exposure to Ang II.Increased expression of tubular LIMS1 was observed in human kidney with hypertensive nephropathy and in murine kidney from Ang II‐induced hypertension model. Tubular‐specific knockdown of LIMS1 ameliorated Ang II‐induced tubulointerstitial fibrosis in mice. Furthermore, we demonstrated that LIMS1 was transcriptionally regulated by HIF‐1α in tubular cells and that tubular HIF‐1α knockout ameliorates LIMS1‐mediated tubulointerstitial fibrosis. In addition, LIMS1 promotes Ang II‐induced tubulointerstitial fibrosis by interacting with vimentin.We conclude that HIF‐1α transcriptionally regulated LIMS1 plays a central role in Ang II‐induced tubulointerstitial fibrosis through interacting with vimentin. Our finding represents a new insight into the mechanism of Ang II‐induced tubulointerstitial fibrosis and provides a novel therapeutic target for progression of CKD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Mitochondrial dysfunction, a characteristic pathological feature of renal Ischemic/reperfusion injury (I/RI), predisposes tubular epithelial cells to maintain an inflammatory microenvironment, however, the exact mechanisms through which mitochondrial dysfunction modulates the induction of tubular injury remains incompletely understood. Methods: ESI‐QTRAP‐MS/MS approach was used to characterize the targeted metabolic profiling of kidney with I/RI. Tubule injury, mitochondrial dysfunction, and fumarate level were evaluated using qPCR, transmission electron microscopy, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. Results: We demonstrated that tubule injury occurred at the phase of reperfusion in murine model of I/RI. Meanwhile, enhanced glycolysis and mitochondrial dysfunction were found to be associated with tubule injury. Further, we found that tubular fumarate, which resulted from fumarate hydratase deficiency and released from dysfunctional mitochondria, promoted tubular injury. Mechanistically, fumarate induced tubular injury by causing disturbance of glutathione (GSH) hemostasis. Suppression of GSH with buthionine sulphoximine administration could deteriorate the fumarate inhibition‐mediated tubule injury recovery. Reactive oxygen species/NF‐κB signaling activation played a vital role in fumarate‐mediated tubule injury. Conclusion: Our studies demonstrated that the mitochondrial‐derived fumarate promotes tubular epithelial cell injury in renal I/RI. Blockade of fumarate‐mediated ROS/NF‐κB signaling activation may serve as a novel therapeutic approach to ameliorate hypoxic tubule injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Realistic quantum mechanical systems are always exposed to an external environment. This often induces Markovian processes in which the system loses information to its surroundings. However, many quantum systems exhibit non-Markovian behaviour with a flow of information from the environment back to the system. The environment usually consists of large number of degrees of freedom which are difficult to control, but some sophisticated schemes for reservoir engineering have been developed. The control of open systems plays a decisive role, for example, in proposals for entanglement generation and dissipative quantum computation, for the design of quantum memories and in quantum metrology. Here we report an all-optical experiment which allows one to drive the open system from the Markovian to the non-Markovian regime, to control the information flow between the system and the environment, and to determine the degree of non-Markovianity by measurements on the open system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Little is known about the frequency and function of CD16+CD14− monocytes from chronic HCV patients. We observed that the absolute numbers and ratio of CD16+CD14− to CD14+CD16− monocytes were similar between chronic HCV patients and healthy individuals. Functionally, we found that CD16+CD14− monocytes are more responsive to TLR8-ligation and only weakly responsive to LPS stimulation in producing TNF as compared to CD14+CD16− monocytes. We found no overt impairment of the function of CD16+CD14− monocytes from patients, except for an augmented induction of MIP-1β-producing CD16+CD14− monocytes upon TLR4-ligation. However, the increased frequency of MIP-1β-producing CD16+CD14− monocytes was not associated with viral load, ALT or fibrosis level. Our findings indicate that, different from other infectious diseases, the frequency and function of CD16+CD14− monocytes are only minimally altered as a consequence of the persistent state of HCV infections, and our findings therefore do not suggest a role for CD16+CD14− monocytes in HCV pathogenesis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: Previous studies have proposed that albuminuria is involved in the activation of intrarenal renin angiotensin system (RAS), while its potential mechanism is still unclear. We investigated the influence of albumin on the expression of ACE/ACE2 and generation of Ang II in HK2 cells. Methods: The mRNA and protein expression of ACE and ACE2 was determined by RT-PCR and western blot respectively. Cellular localization of ACE and ACE2 was shown by laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM). The concentration of Ang II in the supernatant was detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA). Results: Treatment of HK-2 cells to BSA led to a significant increasing expression of ACE mRNA in dose and time dependent manner. The overexpression of ACE protein induced by BSA was consistent with its mRNA expression. Meanwhile, the mRNA and protein expression of ACE2 upon the stimulation of BSA was significantly downregulated in dose and time dependent manner. BSA could significantly increase the production of Ang II in the supernatant (p <0.05). Captopril, however, attenuated the expression of ACE but increased expression of ACE2 induced by BSA. Conclusion: These findings suggested a novel insight on the albuminuria induced activation of intrarenal RAS by upregulation of ACE and downregulation of ACE2. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Acceleration of ions from ultrathin foils irradiated by intense circularly polarized laser pulses is investigated using a one-dimensional particle-in-cell code. As a circularly polarized laser wave heats the electrons much less efficiently than the wave of linear polarization, the ion can be synchronously accelerated and bunched by the electrostatic field, thus a monoenergetic and high intensity proton beam can be generated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proteins containing the forkhead-associated domain (FHA) are known to act in biological processes such as DNA damage repair, protein degradation, and signal transduction. Here we report that DAWDLE (DDL), an FHA domain-containing protein in Arabidopsis, acts in the biogenesis of miRNAs and endogenous siRNAs. Unlike mutants of genes known to participate in the processing of miRNA precursors, such as ddl, hyponastic leaves 1, and serrate, ddl mutants show reduced levels of pri-miRNAs as well as mature miRNAs. Promoter activity of MIR genes, however, is not affected by ddl mutations. DDL is an RNA binding protein and is able to interact with DCL1. In addition, we found that SNIP1, the human homolog of DDL, is involved in miRNA biogenesis and interacts with Drosha. Therefore, we uncovered an evolutionarily conserved factor in miRNA biogenesis. We propose that DDL participates in mIRNA biogenesis by facilitating DCL1 to access or recognize pri-miRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: There is an increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) worldwide. However, the exact incidence of CKD in China is still uncertain. In this cross-sectional study, we retrospectively investigated the prevalence and distribution of CKD in Chinese hospitalized adult patients. Methods: Totally 13,383 adult patients who were hospitalized at our hospital were included in this study. They included 6215 males and 7168 females. Patients'' gender, age, blood pressure, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, uric acid, triglyceride, total cholesterol, albumin, hemoglobin, hemotocrit, urine protein, and history of hypertension, diabetes, and smoking were investigated. CKD was defined as eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and/or proteinuria, GFR was estimated by using of the simplified MDRD equation. Results: The prevalence rate of CKD was 14.82% in our group, which was respectively distributed from stage 1 to stage 5 at the following percentage, 3.33% (stage 1), 2.49% (stage 2), 7.07% (stage 3), 1.08% (stage 4) and 0.86% (stage 5). Elderly patients (age>65 y) accounted for 53.07%, which had a higher CKD prevalence (29.47%) than middle and young-aged patients (9.49%). It was noted that 39.06% patients at stage 1–3 were undiagnosed with CKD during their hospitalization. The common etiology for CKD was hypertension (29.49%), diabetes (11.64%) and primary glomerulonephritis (4.39%). Hypertension, diabetes and ages were main associated factors for CKD. Conclusions: CKD is a very common disease among the hospitalized patients in China. With the increasing of aging population, elderly people will be the highest risk group for CKD. More strategies have to be made for its early detection and prevention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Increased mitotic recombination enhances the risk for loss of heterozygosity, which contributes to the generation of cancer in humans. Defective DNA replication can result in elevated levels of recombination as well as mutagenesis and chromosome loss. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a null allele of the RAD27 gene, which encodes a structure-specific nuclease involved in Okazaki fragment processing, stimulates mutation and homologous recombination. Similarly, rad3-102, an allele of the gene RAD3, which encodes an essential helicase subunit of the core TFIIH transcription initiation and DNA repairosome complexes confers a hyper-recombinagenic and hypermutagenic phenotype. Combining the rad27 null allele with rad3-102 dramatically stimulated interhomolog recombination and chromosome loss but did not affect unequal sister-chromatid recombination, direct-repeat recombination, or mutation. Interestingly, the percentage of cells with Rad52-YFP foci also increased in the double-mutant haploids, suggesting that rad3-102 may increase lesions that elicit a response by the recombination machinery or, alternatively, stabilize recombinagenic lesions generated by DNA replication failure. This net increase in lesions led to a synthetic growth defect in haploids that is relieved in diploids, consistent with rad3-102 stimulating the generation and rescue of collapsed replication forks by recombination between homologs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Previous studies revealed that integrin-linked kinase (ILK), an intracellular serine/threonine protein kinase, is a critical mediator for tubular epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and likely plays an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney fibrosis. However, the exact signal pathway has not been well understood. In this study, we investigated the role of extracellular regulating kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-K) in the regulation of ILK expression by connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in HK-2 cells. Methods: Experiments were performed on transformed (human kidney cell (HKC)-clone 2) human proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs). Induction of ILK in response to CTGF was studied at the mRNA level by real-time PCR and protein by immunoblotting. Chemical inhibitors were used to assess the role of MEK/ERK1/2, PI3-K, and P38 MAPK signaling pathways in induction of ILK by CTGF. Results: CTGF induced ILK protein expression in HK-2 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. There was a 5.638-fold (control: 1.000±0.290, 50 ng/ml: 5.638±1.200; ⁎ P <0.05 vs. control) and 5.740-fold (0 h: 1.000±0.498, 48 h: 5.740±1.465, ⁎ P <0.05 vs. control) increase compared to control respectively. CTGF-induced ILK expression was partially reduced by inhibiting ERK1/2 and PI3-K activation. There was no influence of ILK expression by inhibiting P38 MAPK activation when cells treated with CTGF. Conclusion: CTGF induces the expression of ILK protein in HK-2 cells. This induction is partially dependent on MEK/ERK1/2 and PI3-K signaling pathways. Inhibiting CTGF-induced ILK by targeting PI3-K and/or MEK/ERK1/2 signaling pathways could be of therapeutic value in renal fibrosis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To compare the trophic ecologies of mother–offspring pairs of the jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas), we examined carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in the eye lens core and lens cortex from 18 D. gigas specimens collected from the equatorial waters of the eastern-central Pacific. Both δ13C and δ15N values in lens cores were smaller than in lens cortexes. Significant difference in δ13C between lens cores and lens cortexes suggested that maternal squid used different habitats as compared with their offspring. Higher variation of δ15N in offspring than maternal squid indicated that maternal squid have a more general feeding strategy than their offspring. The degree of fitting of the probability density distribution curves of δ13C and δ15N and the isotopic niches of mothers and their offspring indicate that these squid have a flexible feeding strategy and that mothers and daughters are spawning in different locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]