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Abstract Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) as a stress response cytokine is involved in the development and progression of several diseases associated with metabolic disorders. However, the regulatory role and the underlying mechanisms of GDF15 in sepsis remain poorly defined. Our study analyzed the levels of GDF15 and its correlations with the clinical prognosis of patients with sepsis. In vivo and in vitro models of sepsis were applied to elucidate the role and mechanisms of GDF15 in sepsis-associated lung injury. We observed strong correlations of plasma GDF15 levels with the levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and lactate as well as Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores in patients with sepsis. In the mouse model of lipopolysaccharide-induced sepsis, recombinant GDF15 inhibited the proinflammatory responses and alleviated lung tissue injury. In addition, GDF15 decreased the levels of cytokines produced by alveolar macrophages (AMs). The anti-inflammatory effect of glycolysis inhibitor 2-DG on AMs during sepsis was mediated by GDF15 via inducing the phosphorylation of the α-subunit of eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2α) and the expression of activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4). Furthermore, we explored the mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of GDF15 and found that GDF15 inhibited glycolysis and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling via promoting AMPK phosphorylation. This study demonstrated that GDF15 inhibited glycolysis and NF-κB/MAPKs signaling via activating AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), thereby alleviating the inflammatory responses of AMs and sepsis-associated lung injury. Our findings provided new insights into novel therapeutic strategies for treating sepsis.

Abstract Mouse auditory cortex is composed of six sub-fields: primary auditory field (AI), secondary auditory field (AII), anterior auditory field (AAF), insular auditory field (IAF), ultrasonic field (UF) and dorsoposterior field (DP). Previous studies have examined thalamo-cortical connections in the mice auditory system and learned that AI, AAF, and IAF receive inputs from the ventral division of the medial geniculate body (MGB). However, the functional and thalamo-cortical connections between nonprimary auditory cortex (AII, UF, and DP) is unclear. In this study, we examined the locations of neurons projecting to these three cortical sub-fields in the MGB, and addressed the question whether these cortical sub-fields receive inputs from different subsets of MGB neurons or common. To examine the distributions of projecting neurons in the MGB, retrograde tracers were injected into the AII, UF, DP, after identifying these areas by the method of Optical Imaging. Our results indicated that neuron cells which in ventral part of dorsal MGB (MGd) and that of ventral MGB (MGv) projecting to UF and AII with less overlap. And DP only received neuron projecting from MGd. Interestingly, these three cortical areas received input from distinct part of MGd and MGv in an independent manner. Based on our foundings these three auditory cortical sub-fields in mice may independently process auditory information.

Abstract Background The relationship between handgrip strength (HGS) and depression in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) was unknown. Therefore, we aimed to clarify this association in a cohort of patients. Methods HGS was used as a representative indicator of muscle strength and was measured with a handheld dynamometer. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the self-reported Patient Health Questionnaire-9. A multivariable logistic regression model and restricted cubic spline analysis were used to assess the relationship between HGS and depression. Results The prevalence of depression in our study was 34% in 568 Chinese patients undergoing HD. Compared with patients in the lowest tertiles of absolute and weighted HGS, patients in the highest tertiles of HGS had an approximately 59% lower [odds ratio (OR) = 0.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.24–0.68; OR = 0.41, 95%CI = (0.24–0.69)] prevalence of depressive symptoms after multivariate adjustments. Besides, the risk of depression in hemodialysis patients decreased by 33% (OR = 0.67, 95%CI = 0.53–0.85) and 32% (OR = 0.68, 95%CI = 0.54–0.85) for each standard deviation increase in absolute HGS and weighted HGS, respectively. The prevalence of depressive symptoms decreased with both increasing absolute HGS and weighted HGS after multivariate adjustments (p for trend 0.05). Conclusions This study suggests that lower handgrip strength, a simple and modifiable parameter, is associated with a higher prevalence of depression in Chinese patients undergoing HD. Considering that depression is often unrecognized or underdiagnosed in HD patients, lowered muscle strength should be an important indicator and incentive for medical staff to screen for depression.

Abstract The proportion of correctly predicted prognoses and factors associated with prediction accuracy are unknown. The objective of this study was to explore the accuracy of physician and nurse predictions of 28-day mortality in the ICU. This was a prospective observational single-center study. All medical staff in the ICU have access to patient data, can communicate with patients or clients, and can independently predict the prognosis of patients within 24 h of patient admission. The only question of the questionnaire survey was: What is the patient’s outcome on day 28 (alive or death)? There were 2155 questionnaires completed by 18 physicians and 1916 submitted by 15 nurses. In the 312 patients included, the 28-day mortality rates were predicted by physicians and nurses. The overall proportion of correct prognosis prediction was 90.1% for physicians and 64.4% for nurses (P = 0.000). There was no significant difference in the overall correct proportion and average correct proportion among physicians with different seniority levels. The overall correct proportion and average correct proportion increased among nurses with seniority. Physicians in the ICU can moderately predict 28-day mortality in critically ill patients. Nurses with a seniority of less than 10 years in ICU cannot accurately predict 28-day mortality in critically ill patients. However, the accuracy of nurses’ prediction of patients’ 28-day prognosis increased with their seniority in the ICU.

Chalkiness is one of the most important agronomic traits in rice breeding, which directly affects the quality of rice seed. In this study, we identified a chalkiness endosperm mutant, chalk-h, from N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU)-induced japonica rice cultivar Hwacheong (HC). Compared with wild type (WT)-HC, chalk-h showed severe chalkiness in the endosperm, yellowish green leaves, as well as reduced plant height. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis showed that starch grains in the chalk-h mutant were irregular in size and loosely arranged, with large gaps between granules, forming ovoid or orbicular shapes. MutMap analysis revealed that the phenotype of chalk-h is controlled by a single recessive gene LOC_Os11g39670 encoding seryl-tRNA synthetase, which is renamed as CHALK-H. A point mutation occurs in chalk-h on the sixth exon (at nucleotide 791) of CHALK-H, in which adenine (A) is replaced by thymidine (T), resulting in an amino acid codon change from glutamine (Glu) to valine (Val). The chalk-h mutant exhibited a heat-sensitive phenotype from the 3-leaf stage, including yellow-green leaves and reduced pigment content. The transcriptional expression of starch synthesis-related genes was down-regulated in the chalk-h mutants compared to WT-HC at different grain-filling stages. With an increase in temperature, the expression of photosynthesis-related genes was down-regulated in the chalk-h mutant compared to WT-HC. Overexpression of CHALK-H rescued the phenotype of chalk-h, with endosperm and leaf color similar to those of WT-HC. Our findings reveal that CHALK-H is a causative gene controlling chalkiness and leaf color of the chalk-h mutant. CHALK-H is the same gene locus as TSCD11, which was reported to be involved in chloroplast development under high temperature. We suggest that CHALK-H/TSCD11 plays important roles not only in chloroplast development, but also in photosynthesis and starch synthesis during rice growth and development, so it has great application potential in rice breeding for high quality and yield.

Abstract Sepsis involves endothelial cell (EC) dysfunction, which contributes to multiple organ failure. To improve therapeutic prospects, elucidating molecular mechanisms of vascular dysfunction is of the essence. ATP-citrate lyase (ACLY) directs glucose metabolic fluxes to de novo lipogenesis by generating acetyl-Co-enzyme A (acetyl-CoA), which facilitates transcriptional priming via protein acetylation. It is well illustrated that ACLY participates in promoting cancer metastasis and fatty liver diseases. Its biological functions in ECs during sepsis remain unclear. We found that plasma levels of ACLY were increased in septic patients and were positively correlated with interleukin (IL)-6, soluble E-selectin (sE-selectin), soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (sVCAM-1), and lactate levels. ACLY inhibition significantly ameliorated lipopolysaccharide challenge-induced EC proinflammatory response in vitro and organ injury in vivo. The metabolomic analysis revealed that ACLY blockade fostered ECs a quiescent status by reducing the levels of glycolytic and lipogenic metabolites. Mechanistically, ACLY promoted forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) and histone H3 acetylation, thereby increasing the transcription of c-Myc (MYC) to facilitate the expression of proinflammatory and gluco-lipogenic genes. Our findings revealed that ACLY promoted EC gluco-lipogenic metabolism and proinflammatory response through acetylation-mediated MYC transcription, suggesting ACLY as the potential therapeutic target for treating sepsis-associated EC dysfunction and organ injury.

Abstract Expression of the long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) keratin-7 antisense (KRT7-AS) is downregulated in various types of cancer; however, the impact of KRT7-AS deficiency on tumorigenesis and apoptosis is enigmatic. We aim to explore the influence of KRT7-AS in carcinogenesis and apoptosis. We found that KRT7-AS was deficient in breast and lung cancers, and low levels of KRT7-AS were a poor prognostic factor in breast cancer. Cellular studies showed that silencing of KRT7-AS in lung cancer cells increased oncogenic Keratin-7 levels and enhanced tumorigenesis, but diminished cancer apoptosis of the cancer cells; by contrast, overexpression of KRT7-AS inhibited lung cancer cell tumorigenesis. Additionally, KRT7-AS sensitized cancer cells to the anti-cancer drug cisplatin, consequently enhancing cancer cell apoptosis. In vivo, KRT7-AS overexpression significantly suppressed tumor growth in xenograft mice, while silencing of KRT7-AS promoted tumor growth. Mechanistically, KRT7-AS reduced the levels of oncogenic Keratin-7 and significantly elevated amounts of the key tumor suppressor PTEN in cancer cells through directly binding to PTEN protein via its core nucleic acid motif GGCAAUGGCGG. This inhibited the ubiquitination-proteasomal degradation of PTEN protein, therefore elevating PTEN levels in cancer cells. We also found that KRT7-AS gene transcription was driven by the transcription factor RXRα; intriguingly, the small molecule berberine enhanced KRT7-AS expression, reduced tumorigenesis, and promoted apoptosis of cancer cells. Collectively, KRT7-AS functions as a new tumor suppressor and an apoptosis enhancer in lung and breast cancers, and we unraveled that the RXRα-KRT7-AS-PTEN signaling axis controls carcinogenesis and apoptosis. Our findings highlight a tumor suppressive role of endogenous KRT7-AS in cancers and an important effect the RXRα-KRT7-AS-PTEN axis on control of cancer cell tumorigenesis and apoptosis, and offer a new platform for developing novel therapeutics against cancers.

The transketolase 1 gene (TKTL1) is an essential factor that contributes to brain development. Some studies have shown the influence of TKTL1 in cancers, but it has been rarely reported in kidney cancer. Furthermore, the role of TKTL1 in the prognosis and tumor infiltration of immune cells in various cancers, particularly kidney cancer, remains unknown. In this study, TKTL1 expression and its clinical characteristics were investigated using a variety of databases. TIMER was used to investigate the relationship between TKTL1 and immune infiltrates in various types of cancer. We also studied the relationship between TKTL1 expression and response to PD-1 blocker immunotherapy in renal cancer. We conducted TKTL1 agonists virtual screening from 13,633 natural compounds (L6020), implemented secondary library construction according to the types of top results, and then conducted secondary virtual screening for 367 alkaloids. Finally, in vitro assays of cell viability assays and colony formation assays were performed to demonstrate the pharmacological potency of the screening of TKTL1 agonists. Using these methods, we determined that TKTL1 significantly affects the prognostic potential in different types of kidney cancer patients. The underlying mechanism might be that the TKTL1 expression level was positively associated with devious immunocytes in kidney renal clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) rather than in kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP) and kidney chromophobe (KICH). This recruitment may result from the up-regulation of the mTOR signaling pathway affecting T cell metabolism. We also found that TKTL1 may act as an immunomodulator in KIRC patients’ response to anti-PD-1 therapy. Moreover, we also found that piperine and glibenclamide are potent agonists of TKTL1. We have demonstrated, in vitro, that piperine and glibenclamide can inhibit the proliferation and clone formation of Caki-2 cell lines by agonizing the expression of TKTL1. In summary, our discovery implies that TKTL1 may be a promising prognostic biomarker for KIRC patients who respond to anti-PD-1 therapy. Piperine and glibenclamide may be effective therapeutic TKTL1 agonists, providing a theoretical basis for the clinical treatment of kidney cancer.

Summary: Single-cell transcriptome sequencing can characterize various cell types in human liver tissue and facilitate understanding of hepatoblastoma heterogeneity. Here, we present a protocol for isolating hepatocytes and immune cells from human hepatoblastoma samples with high viability. We describe steps for tissue processing, enzymatic digestion, Percoll density gradient separation, cell lysis, cell suspension quality control, and scRNA library construction. We then detail sequencing and data analysis. This protocol is applicable to preparing single-cell suspensions from other human liver tissue samples. : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

Abstract Background The impact of corticosteroids on patients with severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)/chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) co-infection is currently unknown. We aimed to investigate the association of corticosteroids on these patients. Methods This retrospective multicenter study screened 5447 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized between Jan 1, 2020 to Apr 18, 2020 in seven centers in China, where the prevalence of chronic HBV infection is moderate to high. Severe patients who had chronic HBV and acute SARS-cov-2 infection were potentially eligible. The diagnosis of chronic HBV infection was based on positive testing for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or HBV DNA during hospitalization and a medical history of chronic HBV infection. Severe patients (meeting one of following criteria: respiratory rate > 30 breaths/min; severe respiratory distress; or SpO2 ≤ 93% on room air; or oxygen index

Steel-tube-confined concrete (STCC) targets are provided with excellent anti-penetration performance over semi-infinite concrete (SIC) targets since the steel tube imposes passive restraint on the in-filled concrete during the penetration process. Grid STCC system with square steel tubes is a potential solution to protective structures. In this paper, experiments of 9-cell grid STCC targets penetrated by 12.7 mm Armor Piercing Projectile (APP) were performed. The influence of side length and thickness of steel tube, steel ratio and impact velocity on anti-penetration performance were taken into account. Additionally, single-cell square STCC targets were also designed and tested for comparison with the 9-cell grid STCC targets. Damage modes and parameters of the tested targets were measured and discussed. Moreover, the stiffness of radial confinement of grid STCC targets is achieved according to the elastic solution of infinite cylindrical shell in Winkler medium. Furthermore, the penetration resistance and depth of penetration (DOP) for grid STCC targets are obtained on the basis of the dynamic finite spherical cavity-expansion (FSCE) models including radial confinement effect. It is shown that the 9-cell grid STCC targets with optimal dimension match of thickness and side length of steel tube can reduce the DOP by about 17 % and 23 % in comparison with the SIC targets and single-cell square STCC targets, respectively, due to both the confinement of square steel tube to concrete in the impacted cell and the additional confinement of the surrounding cells to the impacted cell; the penetration resistance and DOP of the grid and cellular STCC targets with similar steel ratio is close, and thus the grid STCC targets with simpler manufacturing process and excellent in-plane expandability are preferred in engineering practice; moreover, the predicted results of DOP model based on the FSCE models agree well with the tested results with the maximum disparity less than 12 % and the proposed model is more applicable to the grid and cellular STCC targets with high radial confinement.

For antibody discovery and engineering, yeast surface display (YSD) of antigen-binding fragments (Fabs) and coupled fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) provide intact paratopic conformations and quantitative analysis at the monoclonal level, and thus holding great promises for numerous applications. Using anti-TNFα mAbs Infliximab, Adalimumab, and its variants as model Fabs, this study systematically characterized complementary approaches for the optimization of Fab YSD. Results suggested that by using divergent promoter GAL1-GAL10 and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal peptides for co-expression of light chain and heavy chain-Aga2 fusion, assembled Fabs were functionally displayed on yeast cell surface with sigmoidal binding responses toward TNFα. Co-expression of a Hsp70 family molecular chaperone Kar2p and/or protein-disulfide isomerase (Pdi1p) significantly improved efficiency of functional display (defined as the ratio of cells displaying functional Fab over cells displaying assembled Fab). Moreover, fusing ER retention sequences (ERSs) with light chain also enhanced Fab display quality at the expense of display quantity, and the degree of improvements was correlated with the strength of ERSs and was more significant for Infliximab than Adalimumab. The feasibility of affinity maturation was further demonstrated by isolating a high affinity Fab clone from 1:103 or 1:105 spiked libraries.

Background: Acting as a viral entry for coronavirus to invade human cells, TMPRSS2 has become a target for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infection. Before this, TMPRSS2 has presented biological functions in cancer, but the roles remain controversial and the mechanism remains unelucidated. Some chemicals have been reported to be inhibitors of TMPRSS2 and also demonstrated other pharmacological properties. At this stage, it is important to discover more new compounds targeting TMPRSS2, especially from natural products, for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infection.Methods: We analyzed the correlation between TMPRSS2 expression, methylation level, overall survival rate, clinical parameters, biological process, and determined the correlation between TMPRSS2 and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in the tumor and adjacent normal tissue of adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) respectively by using various types of bioinformatics approaches. Moreover, we determined the correlation between TMPRSS2 protein level and the prognosis of LUAD and LUSC cohorts by immunohistochemistry assay. Furthermore, the cancer immunome atlas (TCIA) database was used to predict the relationship between the expression of TMPRSS2 and response to programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blocker immunotherapy in lung cancer patients. Finally, the putative binding site of ginsenosides bound to TMPRSS2 protein was built from homology modeling to screen high-potency TMPRSS2 inhibitors.Results: We found that TMPRSS2 recruits various types of immunocytes, including CD8+, CD4+ T cells, B cells and DCs both in LUAD and LUSC patients, and the correlation between TMPRSS2 expression and CD8+ and CD4+ T cells are stronger in LUAD rather than in LUSC, but excludes macrophages and neutrophils in LUAD patient cohorts. These might be the reason that higher mRNA and protein levels of TMPRSS2 are associated with better prognosis in LUAD cohorts rather than in LUSC cohorts. Furthermore, we found that TMPRSS2 was positively correlated with the prognosis in patient nonresponse to anti-PD-1 therapy. Therefore, we made an inference that increasing the expression level of TMPRSS2 may improve the anti-PD-1 immunotherapy efficacy. Finally, five ginsenosides candidates with high inhibition potency were screened from the natural chemical library to be used as TMPRSS2 inhibitors.Conclusion: All these may imply that TMPRSS2 might be a novel prognostic biomarker and serve as a potential immunomodulator target of immunotherapy combination therapies in LUAD patients nonresponse to anti-PD-1 therapy. Also, these findings may suggest we should pay more attention to LUAD patients, especially those infected with COVID-19, who should avoid medicating TMPRSS2 inhibitors, such as ginsenosides to gain prophylactic and therapeutic benefits against COVID-19.

Summary: By combining single-cell processing with whole-exome sequencing, we have developed single-cell whole-exome sequencing to investigate the mechanisms of hepatoblastoma development and to provide potential targets and therapeutic approaches for clinical treatment. In the following protocol, we outline the steps involved in single-cell sorting, whole-genome amplification, amplification uniformity estimation, and whole-exome library construction. In addition to the cells we use, this protocol is also suitable for other cell lines and cell types.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Jian et al. (2023). : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

With the rapid development of the internet of things (IoT) era, IoT devices may face limitations in battery capacity and computational capability. Simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) and mobile edge computing (MEC) have emerged as promising technologies to address these challenges. Due to wireless channel fading and susceptibility to obstacles, this paper introduces intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS) to enhance the spectral and energy efficiency of wireless networks. We propose a system model for IRS-assisted uplink offloading computation, downlink offloading computation results, and simultaneous energy transfer. Considering constraints such as IRS phase shifts, latency, energy harvesting, and offloading transmit power, we jointly optimize the CPU frequency of IoT devices, offloading transmit power, local computation workload, power splitting (PS) ratio, and IRS phase shifts. This establishes a multi-variate coupled nonlinear problem aimed at minimizing IoT devices energy consumption. We design an effective alternating optimization (AO) iterative algorithm based on block coordinate descent, and utilize closed-form solutions, Dinkelbach-based Lagrange dual method, and semidefinite relaxation (SDR) method to minimize IoT devices energy consumption. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves lower energy consumption compared to other resource allocation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]