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Abstract The present study aims to investigate the low-energy consumption and high-efficiency removal of arsenic from aqueous solutions. The designed adsorbent Fe/TBC was synthesized by impregnating iron on torrefaction henequen fibers. Isothermal adsorption experiments indicated maximum adsorption capacities of 7.30 mg/g and 8.98 mg/g for arsenic(V) at 25.0 °C and 40.0 °C, respectively. The interference testing showed that elevated levels of pH, HCO3 − concentration, and humic acid content in the solution could inhibit the adsorption of arsenic by Fe/TBC. Characterization of the adsorbent before and after adsorption using FTIR and SEM–EDS techniques confirmed arsenic adsorption mechanisms, including pore filling, electrostatic interaction, surface complexation, and H-bond adhesion. Column experiments were conducted to treat arsenic-spiked water and natural groundwater, with effective treatment volumes of 550 mL and 8792 mL, respectively. Lastly, the life cycle assessment (LCA) using OpenLCA 2.0.3 software was performed to treat 1 m3 of natural groundwater as the functional unit. The results indicated relatively significant environmental impacts during the Fe/TBC synthesis stage. The global warming potential resulting from the entire life cycle process was determined to be 0.8 kg CO2-eq. The results from batch and column experiments, regeneration studies, and LCA analysis indicate that Fe/TBC could be a promising adsorbent for arsenic(V).

Abstract Background Emerging evidence has indicated a link between the gut microbiota and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). However, the acute changes in gut microbiota during chemotherapy and the predictive value of baseline gut microbiota in infectious complication remain largely unknown. Methods Faecal samples (n = 126) from children with ALL (n = 49) undergoing induction chemotherapy were collected at three timepoints, i.e., initiation of chemotherapy (baseline, T0), 7 days (T1) and 33 days (T2) after initiation of chemotherapy. Gut microbiome profile was performed via metagenomic shotgun sequencing. The bioBakery3 pipeline (Kneaddata, Metaphlan 3 and HUMAnN) was performed to assign taxonomy and functional annotations. Gut microbiome at T0 were used to predict infection during chemotherapy. Results The microbial diversities and composition changed significantly during chemotherapy, with Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Bifidobacterium longum being the most prominent species. The microbial metabolic pathways were also significantly altered during chemotherapy, including the pathway of pyruvate fermentation to acetate and lactate, and assimilatory sulfate reduction pathway. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) models based on Bifidobacterium longum at T0 could predict infectious complications during the first month of chemotherapy with the area under the curve (AUC) of 0.720. Conclusions Our study provides new insights into the acute changes in microbial and functional characteristics in children with ALL during chemotherapy. The baseline gut microbiota could be potential biomarkers for infections during chemotherapy. Trial registration The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University (2021-KY-171-01) and registered on http://www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2200065406, Registration Date: November 4, 2022).

How to improve the success rate of autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) path planning and reduce travel time as much as possible is a very challenging and crucial problem in the practical applications of AUV in the complex ocean current environment. Traditional reinforcement learning algorithms lack exploration of the environment, and the strategies learned by the agent may not generalize well to other different environments. To address these challenges, we propose a novel AUV path planning algorithm named the Noisy Dueling Double Deep Q-Network (ND3QN) algorithm by modifying the reward function and introducing a noisy network, which generalizes the traditional D3QN algorithm. Compared with the classical algorithm [e.g., Rapidly-exploring Random Trees Star (RRT*), DQN, and D3QN], with simulation experiments conducted in realistic terrain and ocean currents, the proposed ND3QN algorithm demonstrates the outstanding characteristics of a higher success rate of AUV path planning, shorter travel time, and smoother paths.

We aimed to investigate the effects of the position of the transferred air bubble with the clinical pregnancy rate (PR) in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. A prospective clinical study was carried out at Reproductive Medicine Center of West China Second University Hospital between June 2020 and May 2021. A total of 1159 women who underwent FET were included in this study. Transabdominal ultrasonographic guidance was used during the transfer procedure. The distance from the air bubble to endometrial cavity fundus (DAF) was measured in the freeze-frame ultrasound immediately after ET. In DAF ≤3 mm, 3–15 mm, and ≥15 mm group, the clinical PR in women transferred with cleavage embryos was 33.3% (7/21), 55.0% (153/280), and 31.3% (5/16), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Among women transferred with blastocysts, the clinical PR was 63.0% (34/54), 68.5% (485/708), and 55.0% (44/80), respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In multivariate logistic regression model for clinical PR, the clinical PR was associated with age, embryo quality, number of embryo transferred, and endometrial thickness. DAF was an independent risk factor influencing clinical PR in blastocyst FET cycles rather than in cleavage embryo FET cycles. In conclusion, our results suggested that DAF was associated with the clinical PR and DAF between 3 mm and 15 mm is the optimal position in blastocyst FET cycles.

Abstract Multiple methods have been proposed for evaluating the symmetry of facial contour by utilizing the median sagittal plane of the skull as a reference and measuring the maxillofacial region. To replace the manual mark point analysis method, we used the anterior cerebral falx plane in MRI images as an indicator of the craniofacial midline. The MRI examination data of 30 individuals were analyzed with a MeVisLab workstation. Two independent examiners performed 15 anthropometric measurements (4 angular, 11 linear) and compared the MRI-based anterior cerebral falx plane with the manual mark point analysis of the craniofacial midline estimation. All measurements were repeated after 3 weeks. Statistical analyses included the repeatability and reproducibility of the 2 methods based on intra-observer and inter-observer correlation coefficients (ICCs), respectively. Precision was estimated by intergroup comparison of the coefficient of variation. The anterior falx plane derived from the MRI data resulted in an intra-observer ICC of 0.869 ± 0.065 (range 0.733–0.936) and inter-observer ICC of 0.876 ± 0.0417 (0.798–0.932) for all measurements, showing significant correlations with the ICC values obtained by the mark point method (p

ABSTRACT Because of the stubborn resistance to antibiotics, treating clinically resistant bacteria is a tricky business. Although considerable attention has been devoted to preventing and treating infections from drug-resistant bacteria, few studies are available on combining metabolites and antibiotics to combat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This study found that exogenous L-glutamine potentiated aminoglycoside (gentamicin)-mediated killing efficacy in a dose- and time-dependent manner in MRSA (USA300 cell line) and other Gram-positive-resistant bacteria including MRSA 252, Listeria monocytogenes, and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. L-glutamine promoted the uptake of gentamicin through increasing the membrane permeability and was correlated with disrupted pH gradient. Furthermore, L-glutamine decreased intracellular reactive oxygen species by glutathione, which also increased USA300 sensitivity to gentamicin. We also demonstrated that combined treatment with gentamicin and L-glutamine enhanced the survival of MRSA-infected mice. In conclusion, we developed a promising therapeutic strategy for treating Gram-positive-resistant bacterial infections. IMPORTANCE Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection severely threatens human health due to high morbidity and mortality; it is urgent to develop novel strategies to tackle this problem. Metabolites belong to antibiotic adjuvants which improve the effect of antibiotics. Despite reports of L-glutamine being applied in antibiotic adjuvant for Gram-negative bacteria, how L-glutamine affects antibiotics against Gram-positive-resistant bacteria is still unclear. In this study, L-glutamine increases the antibacterial effect of gentamicin on MRSA, and it links to membrane permeability and pH gradient (ΔpH), resulting in uptake of more gentamicin. Of great interest, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) by glutathione was found under L-glutamine treatment; USA300 becomes sensitive again to gentamicin. This study not only offers deep understanding on ΔpH and ROS on bacterial resistance but also provides potential treatment solutions for targeting MRSA infection.

Background: Although invasive mycosis is a common complication of hematologic malignancies, invasive Fusarium infection, especially systemic disseminated Fusarium infection is rare, which has a high mortality due to remarkable intrinsic drug resistance. Result: We reported a case of 5-year-old high-risk acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) female patient complicated with disseminated Fusarium solani infection during the course of chemotherapy. After diagnosis of ALL, the case was treated according to the South China Children's Leukemia Group-ALL-2016 protocol, and achieved a molecular complete response. On the seventh day of reinduction chemotherapy, she experienced endophthalmitis in the right eye along with recurrent high fever. Three days later, endophthalmitis spread to the left eye, blood culture and next-generation sequencing returned positive result for Fusarium solani. The patient was subsequently treated with antifungal therapy including Amphotericin B, Voriconazole and Posaconazole together with supportive treatments, but the effects were less satisfying. The patient then developed endocarditis, encephalitis, arthritis and other disseminated lesions caused by Fusarium solani infection, and eventually died of multiple organ failure. Conclusion: This case we reported highlights the lethality of disseminated Fusarium species infection in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, early diagnosis and timely anti-infective treatments are of utmost importance as that helps in controlling the spread of infection thereby leading to a favorable outcome.

Metabolic reprogramming mediates antibiotic efficacy. However, metabolic adaptation of microbes evolving from antibiotic sensitivity to resistance remains undefined. Therefore, untargeted metabolomics was conducted to unveil relevant metabolic reprogramming and potential intervention targets involved in gentamicin resistance. In total, 61 metabolites and 52 metabolic pathways were significantly altered in gentamicin-resistant E. coli. Notably, the metabolic reprogramming was characterized by decreases in most metabolites involved in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and accumulation of building blocks for nucleotide synthesis in gentamicin-resistant E. coli. Meanwhile, fatty acid metabolism and glycerolipid metabolism were also significantly altered in gentamicin-resistant E. coli. Additionally, glycerol, glycerol-3-phosphate, palmitoleate, and oleate were separately defined as the potential biomarkers for identifying gentamicin resistance in E. coli. Moreover, palmitoleate and oleate could attenuate or even abolished killing effects of gentamicin on E. coli, and separately increased the minimum inhibitory concentration of gentamicin against E. coli by 2 and 4 times. Furthermore, palmitoleate and oleate separately decreased intracellular gentamicin contents, and abolished gentamicin-induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species, indicating involvement of gentamicin metabolism and redox homeostasis in palmitoleate/oleate-promoted gentamicin resistance in E. coli. This study identifies the metabolic reprogramming, potential biomarkers and intervention targets related to gentamicin resistance in bacteria.

The purpose of this study was to resolve the issue of physical instability in amorphous solid drugs, which can result in unwanted crystallization, affecting solubility and dissolution rates. The focus was on precipitating physically stable amorphous forms of the nilotinib free base, an anticancer drug, by monitoring preparation conditions such as precipitation temperature and filter cake thickness. A comprehensive set of characterization techniques, including powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM), were used. These were supplemented by advanced data analysis methods that incorporated pair distribution function (PDF), reduced crystallization temperature (Rc), and principal component analysis (PCA) to evaluate the physical stability of the amorphous samples. Results emphasized that optimal physical stability was achieved when amorphous solids were prepared at a precipitation temperature of 10 °C and a filter cake thickness of 4 cm. Moreover, the integration of PDF analysis with Rc values was confirmed as an innovative approach for assessing physical stability, thus offering enhanced efficiency and accuracy over conventional accelerated stability testing methods.

A limitation of present elastic metasurfaces remains in their modest flexibility to meet convertible functions on demand. Here, a feasible single-layered lossless metasurface is theoretically proposed and experimentally demonstrated for adjusting the asymmetric transmission of flexural waves. The easily reconstructed unit is derived from multiple pillared resonators; then, the number of units per period can be changed depending on the desired integer parity. In addition, the asymmetric transmission is physically realized by the uneven diffraction of the ±1st orders in opposite fields of the designed metasurface. Requiring neither active modules nor passively multilayer or loss-induced strategies, our design using only a layer of lossless metasurface allows the elastic-wave behavior to switch between efficient symmetric and asymmetric transmissions. Furthermore, a high contrast ratio of transmitted energy is verified in experiments and simulations within a wide-angle range. The present work is connected with the pragmatic applications of metasurfaces in timely directional vibration control and compactly elastodynamic rectifications.

With the continuous infusion of renewable energy sources, smart buildings have evolved from single-load characteristics into dual characteristics with both electric energy production and consumption capability. Concurrently, the peak and off-peak periods of electricity consumption are influenced by climatic factors, which leads to complexity and deviation from the time-of-use tariffs set by electricity markets, which consequently result in a loss of revenue from grid-based electricity sales. Thus, adopting an innovative pricing mechanism to offset the revenue deficit in the grid assumes paramount significance. Built upon a dual-layer framework that employs intelligent optimization algorithms, this study proposes a pricing strategy for introducing the retail electricity provider into smart building clusters with peer-to-peer power sharing as the core. First, the independent operation model of intelligent buildings and electric energy sharing model without the participation of retail power suppliers are respectively established. Subsequently, with the aim to minimize alliance costs, a novel energy sharing pricing model involving retail electricity suppliers is developed, and a combination of particle swarm optimization and alternating direction multiplier methods is used for distributed solutions within a representative model. This approach yields optimal energy sharing transaction volumes and pricing while ensuring the confidentiality of each participating entity. Lastly, from the perspectives of the power grid, retail electricity suppliers, and multi-building smart alliances, this study conducts simulation analyses of key parameters that influence the bargaining effectiveness of retail electricity suppliers. These parameters encompass the upper limit of pricing, market supervision coefficient, and discount coefficient associated with the grid-based electricity sales to suppliers. Through these analyses, the study further validates the efficacy of the proposed strategy.

Fatigued driving is one of the main causes of road traffic accidents. In the process of fatigued driving detection, the evaluation based on a single sign is biased. To improve the adaptability and accuracy of fatigued driving detection, this paper proposes an improved D-S evidence theory-based algorithm for detecting facial fatigue signs. This algorithm uses the multi-thread-optimized Dlib to track and locate the image of the face, captures the 68 key points of the driver’s face with reference to the Dlib open-source library, and narrows the target areas to the eyes and mouth regions. Based on the video stream, it calculates the horizontal and vertical ratios of the eyes and mouth to determine the fatigue sign subsets based on the EAR and MAR within a unit cycle, and calculates the Pitch angle after converting the head pose from 2D images to 3D models, which is used for determining the status of the head pose. The algorithm then fuses multiple feature subsets and uses the improved D-S evidence theory to optimize the weights of the three subsets to mitigate the influence of the “general conflict” and “one veto” problems, and to increase the temporal correlation coefficient of a single fatigue sign. Experimental results show that the improved D-S face detection algorithm can effectively solve the problems of lighting and partial occlusion in complex environments, with an accuracy rate of 93.8% for detecting facial fatigue signs.

Abstract Spatially resolved transcriptomics involves a set of emerging technologies that enable the transcriptomic profiling of tissues with the physical location of expressions. Although a variety of methods have been developed for data integration, most of them are for single-cell RNA-seq datasets without consideration of spatial information. Thus, methods that can integrate spatial transcriptomics data from multiple tissue slides, possibly from multiple individuals, are needed. Here, we present PRECAST, a data integration method for multiple spatial transcriptomics datasets with complex batch effects and/or biological effects between slides. PRECAST unifies spatial factor analysis simultaneously with spatial clustering and embedding alignment, while requiring only partially shared cell/domain clusters across datasets. Using both simulated and four real datasets, we show improved cell/domain detection with outstanding visualization, and the estimated aligned embeddings and cell/domain labels facilitate many downstream analyses. We demonstrate that PRECAST is computationally scalable and applicable to spatial transcriptomics datasets from different platforms.

Abstract Background Gynecologic patients undergoing day surgery are discharged in an intermediate stage of recovery. The quality of discharge teaching and discharge readiness are important to patients’ postsurgical outcomes, but little research has focused on them. Methods Quality of discharge teaching and discharge readiness were measured, and Spearman correlations were conducted. Postsurgical outcomes were recorded on postoperative Day 1, postoperative Day 7, and postoperative Day 28. Generalized estimating equations were used to explore factors that influence postsurgical outcomes. Results Discharge teaching was verified to be positively correlated with the discharge readiness of participants. The generalized estimating equations indicated that discharge teaching skills, effects of doctors and nurses, patient-reported physical conditions and social support following discharge were protective factors for postsurgical outcomes. Conclusions Doctors and nurses should improve discharge teaching skills and effects to improve the postsurgical outcomes of gynecological patients undergoing day surgery. At discharge, doctors and nurses should assess patients’ physical condition and facilitate a social support system.

This paper investigates the seismic damage behavior of steel pipe pile wharves after pitting corrosion. The seismic intensity is treated as random, and a probabilistic strength model for randomly pitting corroded steel is utilized to assess the seismic response of a typical steel pipe pile wharf. By analyzing the internal force response of each pile and the deformation response of the deck and soil slope, the process of seismic failure in steel pipe pile wharves with different pitting corrosion ratios is investigated. The results demonstrate that pitting corrosion amplifies the internal force within the steel pipe piles, leading to more severe seismic damage. Additionally, probabilistic seismic demand functions are established for the most vulnerable row of piles affected by random pitting corrosion, and the seismic fragility of the pipe pile wharves considering different pitting corrosion ratios is evaluated. These findings provide valuable insights for the design and strengthening of steel pipe pile wharves.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has now become a major nosocomial pathogen bacteria and resistant to many antibiotics. Therefore, Development of novel approaches to combat the disease is especially important. The present study aimed to provide a novel approach involving the use of nucleotide-mediated metabolic reprogramming to tackle intractable methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections.Objective: This study aims to explore the bacterial effects and mechanism of uracil and gentamicin in S. aureus.Methods: Antibiotic bactericidal assays was used to determine the synergistic bactericidal effect of uracil and gentamicin. How did uracil regulate bacterial metabolism including the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle by GC-MS-based metabolomics. Next, genes and activity of key enzymes in the TCA cycle, PMF, and intracellular aminoglycosides were measured. Finally, bacterial respiration, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and ATP levels were also assayed in this study.Results: In the present study, we found that uracil could synergize with aminoglycosides to kill MRSA (USA300) by 400-fold. Reprogramming metabolomics displayed uracil reprogrammed bacterial metabolism, especially enhanced the TCA cycle to elevate NADH production and proton motive force, thereby promoting the uptake of antibiotics. Furthermore, uracil increased cellular respiration and ATP production, resulting the generation of ROS. Thus, the combined activity of uracil and antibiotics induced bacterial death. Inhibition of the TCA cycle or ROS production could attenuate bactericidal efficiency. Moreover, uracil exhibited bactericidal activity in cooperation with aminoglycosides against other pathogenic bacteria. In a mouse mode of MRSA infection, the combination of gentamicin and uracil increased the survival rate of infected mice.Conclusion: Our results suggest that uracil enhances the activity of bactericidal antibiotics to kill Gram-positive bacteria by modulating bacterial metabolism.

The photodriven radical-mediated [3 + 2] cyclization reaction was found to yield polymers efficiently without being hindered by degradative chain transfer. The first reaction is a hydrogen abstraction process in which one hydrogen atom migrates from the α-methylene group of an allyl monomer to the triplet state (or fragments) of the photoinitiator, thus yielding primary allyl radicals as primary radicals and then begins chain propagation via a 3 + 2 cyclization reaction. Allyl ether monomers were found to be significantly higher than other allyl monomers even with the absence of amine-like synergists. In order to clarify the procedure of the hydrogen abstraction mechanism, we used four allyl-type monomers as hydrogen donors and three thioxanthone photoinitiators as hydrogen acceptors by the quantum chemistry method in terms of geometry and energy. The results were interpreted with transition-state theory and the interaction/deformation model. Then, the tunneling factors of hydrogen abstraction reactions were also investigated by Eckart’s correction. The results show allyl ether systems are more reactive than other allyl systems, and it would provide us with new insights into these hydrogen abstractions.

In this study, atypical choroid plexus papilloma was treated with high-dose rapamycin for 17 days preoperatively in an infant. Rapamycin significantly reduced the blood supply to the tumor while reducing the tumor volume, and most of the tumor was resected successfully. However, the infant developed hyperglycemia related to the rapamycin dose, which was effectively controlled by adjusting the dose and applying insulin.

KDSR (3-ketodihydrosphingosine reductase) is a short-chain dehydrogenase located in the endoplasmic reticulum. Mutations in KDSR cause defects in ceramides, which play a key role in the biological processes of the skin and other tissues. Herein, we report a case of compound heterozygous mutations in KDSR that caused progressive keratodermia and thrombocytopenia in a 2-year-old male patient.

Background Saline-sodic soils are widely distributed in arid and semi-arid regions around the world. High levels of salt and sodium inhibit the growth and development of crops. However, there has been limited reports on both osmotic potential in soil solutions (OPss) and characteristics of Na+ and K+ absorption in rice in saline-sodic soils under various amendments application. Methods A field experiment was conducted between 2009 and 2017 to analyze the influence of amendments addition to saline-sodic soils on rice growth and yield. Rice was grown in the soil with no amendment (CK), with desulfurization gypsum (DG), with sandy soil (SS), with farmyard manure (FM) and with the mixture of above amendments (M). The osmotic potential in soil solution, selective absorption of K+ over Na+ (SA), selective transport of K+ over Na+ (ST), the distribution of K+ and Na+and yield components in rice plants were investigated. Results The results indicated that amendments application have positive effects on rice yield. The M treatment was the best among the tested amendments with the highest rice grain yield. M treatment increased the OPss values significantly to relieve the inhibition of the water uptake by plants. Additionally, the M treatment significantly enhanced K+ concentration and impeded Na+ accumulation in shoots. SA values were reduced while ST values were increased for all amendments. In conclusion, a mixture of desulfurization gypsum, sandy soil and farmyard manure was the best treatment for the improvement of rice growth and yield in the Songnen Plain, northeast China.

The effective conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into cyclic carbonates requires porous materials with high ionic content and large specific surface area. Herein, we developed a new systematic post-synthetic modification strategy for synthesizing imidazolium-based hypercrosslinked ionic polymers (HIPs) with high ionic content (up to 2.1 mmol g−1) and large specific surface area (385 m2 g−1) from porous hypercrosslinked polymers (HCPs) through addition reaction and quaternization. The obtained HIPs were efficient in CO2 capture and conversion. Under the synergistic effect of high ionic content, large specific surface area, and plentiful micro/mesoporosity, the metal-free catalyst [HCP-CH2-Im][Cl]-1 exhibited quantitative selectivities, high catalytic yields, and good substrate compatibility for the conversion of CO2 into cyclic carbonates at atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa) in a shorter reaction time in the absence of cocatalysts, solvents, and additives. High catalytic yields (styrene oxide, 120 °C, 8 h, 94% yield; 100 °C, 20 h, 93% yield) can be achieved by appropriately extending the reaction times at low temperature, and the reaction times are shorter than other porous materials under the same conditions. This work provides a new strategy for synthesizing an efficient metal-free heterogeneous catalyst with high ionic content and a large specific surface area from HCPs for the conversion of CO2 into cyclic carbonates. It also demonstrates that the ionic content and specific surface area must be coordinated to obtain high catalytic activity for CO2 cycloaddition reaction.

In this paper, a hybrid resonator composed of an all-metal grating made of copper and a dielectric cavity filled with SiO2 between slits is simulated and calculated by the finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD). We study the effect of slit width on surface plasmon resonance by changing the size of the dielectric cavity. In the case of parallel light incident vertically, the resonator can achieve multi-band absorption and have a perfect absorption peak. The dielectric cavity can not only localize the incident light wave, but also enhance the effect of surface plasmon of metal structure. Our results can be widely used in the field of surface plasmon, which is beneficial to the development of surface plasmon resonators in sensing and detection. Keywords: Multi-band, Surface plasmon resonance, Perfect absorption, Full metal grating, Slit

Background: Ischemia preconditioning (IPC) remains the most powerful intervention of protection against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), but diabetes can weaken or eliminate its cardioprotective effect and detailed mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore whether changes of autophagy in the diabetic condition are attributable to the decreased cardioprotective effect of IPC. Methods: Sixty diabetic male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the control (C), IRI, rapamycin (R), wortmannin (W), rapamycin + IPC (R + IPC), and wortmannin + IPC (W + IPC) groups. The in vivo rat model of myocardial IRI was established by ligaturing and opening the left anterior descending coronary artery via the left thoracotomy. Durations of ischemia and reperfusion are 30 min and 120 min, respectively. Blood samples were taken at 120 min of reperfusion for measuring serum concentrations of troponin I (TnI) and creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB) using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The infarct size was assessed by Evans blue and triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. The expressions of LC3-II, beclin-1, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), and P-Akt/Akt ratio in the ischemic myocardium were assessed by Western blotting. Results: Compared to the IRI group, infarct size (56.1% ± 6.1% vs. 75.4 ± 7.1%, P < 0.05), serum cTnI (0.61 ± 0.21 vs. 0.95 ± 0.26 ng/ml, P < 0.05), and CK-MB levels (6.70 ± 1.25 vs. 11.51 ± 2.35 ng/ml, P < 0.05) obviously decreased in the W + IPC group. Compared with the C group, myocardial expressions of LC3-II (0.46 ± 0.04 and 0.56 ± 0.04 vs. 0.36 ± 0.04, P < 0.05) and beclin-1 (0.34 ± 0.08 and 0.38 ± 0.07 vs. 0.24 ± 0.03, P < 0.05) evidently increased, and myocardial expressions of mTOR (0.26 ± 0.08 and 0.25 ± 0.07 vs. 0.38 ± 0.06, P < 0.05), PI3K (0.29 ± 0.04 and 0.30 ± 0.03 vs. 0.38 ± 0.02, P < 0.05), and P-Akt/Akt ratio (0.49 ± 0.10 and 0.48 ± 0.06 vs. 0.72 ± 0.07, P < 0.05) markedly decreased in the IRI and R groups, indicating an increased autophagy. Compared with the IRI group, myocardial expression of beclin-1 (0.26 ± 0.03 vs. 0.34 ± 0.08, P < 0.05) significantly decreased, and myocardial expressions of mTOR (0.36 ± 0.04 vs. 0.26 ± 0.08, P < 0.05), PI3K (0.37 ± 0.03 vs. 0.29 ± 0.04, P < 0.05), and P-Akt/Akt ratio (0.68 ± 0.05 vs. 0.49 ± 0.10, P < 0.05) increased obviously in the W + IPC group, indicating a decreased autophagy. Conclusions: Increased autophagy in the diabetic myocardium is attributable to decreased cardioprotection of IPC, and autophagy inhibited by activating the PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway can result in an improved protection of IPC against diabetic myocardial IRI.

Background: Oxygen-glucose deprivation-nutrition resumption (OGD-NR) models on H9c2 cells are commonly used in vitro models of simulated myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI), but no study has assessed whether these methods for establishing in vitro models can effectively imitate the characteristics of MIRI in vivo. This experiment was designed to analyze the feasibility of six OGD-NR models of MIRI. Methods: By searching the PubMed database using the keywords “myocardial reperfusion injury H9c2 cells,” we obtained six commonly used OGD-NR in vitro models of MIRI performed on H9c2 cells from more than 400 published papers before January 30, 2017. For each model, control (C), simulated ischemia (SI), and simulated ischemia-reperfusion (SIR) groups were assigned, and cell morphology, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels, reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and inflammatory cytokines were examined to evaluate the characteristics of cell injury. Subsequently, a coculture system of cardiomyocyte-endothelial-macrophage was constructed. The coculture system was dealt with SI and SIR treatments to test the effect on cardiomyocytes survival. Results: For models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, SI treatment caused morphological damage to cells, and subsequent SIR treatment did not cause further morphological damage. In the models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, LDH release was significantly higher in the SI groups than that in the C group (P < 0.05), and was significantly lower in the SIR groups than that in the SI groups (P < 0.05), except for no significant differences in the LDH release between C, SI and SIR groups in model 6 receiving a 3-h SI treatment. In models 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, compared with the C group, ATP levels of the SI groups significantly decreased (P < 0.05), ROS levels increased (P < 0.05), and MMP levels decreased (P < 0.05). Compared with the SI group, ATP level of the SIR groups was significantly increased (P < 0.05), and there was no significant ROS production, MMP collapse, and over inflammatory response in the SIR groups. In a coculture system of H9c2 cells-endothelial cells-macrophages, the proportion of viable H9c2 cells in the SIR groups was not reduced compared with the SI groups. Conclusion: All the six OGD-NR models on H9c2 cells in this experiment can not imitate the characteristics of MIRI in vivo and are not suitable for MIRI-related study.

House price is closely associated with the development of the national economy and people’s daily life. Understanding the spatial distribution characteristics and influencing factors of the house price is of great practical significance. Although a lot of attention has been paid to modeling the house price from structure and location attributes, limited work has considered the impact of visual attributes. Intuitively, a better visual environment may raise the surrounding house price. When aggregating multiple factors that influence house price, the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) provides a suitable solution. Specifically, the MGWR assigns each factor a bandwidth to model the spatial heterogeneity, e.g., a factor may have different influences at different places. In this paper, we introduce the visual environment factors into the MGWR method. In detail, we extract ten visual elements, e.g., sky, vegetation, road, from the Baidu street view (BSV) images, using a deep learning framework. We further define six visual environment factors to investigate their influence on house price. Based on the data from two representative Chinese cities, i.e., Beijing and Chongqing, we reveal the influence degree and spatial scale difference of six visual indexes on the house price in two cities. Results show that: (1) the influence intensity of our proposed six visual environment factors on the house price in different regions of the city can be identified, and the green view index (GVI) is the most important visual environmental factor; and (2) the influence of these view indexes changes significantly or even reversely depends on different areas.

Understanding the underlying mechanism that drives the microbial community mediated by substrates is crucial to enhance the biostimulation in trichloroethene (TCE)-contaminated sites. Here, we investigated the performance of stable TCE-dechlorinating consortia by monitoring the variations in TCE-related metabolites and explored their underlying assembly mechanisms using 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing and bioinformatics analyses. The monitoring results indicated that three stable TCE-dechlorinating consortia were successfully enriched by lactate-containing anaerobic media. The statistical analysis results demonstrated that the microbial communities of the enrichment cultures changed along with time and were distinguished by their sample sources. The deterministic and stochastic processes were simultaneously responsible for shaping the TCE-dechlorinating community assembly. The indicator patterns shifted with the exhaustion of the carbon source and the pollutants, and the tceA-carrying Dehalococcoides, as an indicator for the final stage samples, responded positively to TCE removal during the incubation period. Pseudomonas, Desulforhabdus, Desulfovibrio and Methanofollis were identified as keystone populations in the TCE-dechlorinating process by co-occurrence network analysis. The results of this study indicate that lactate can be an effective substrate for stimulated bioremediation of TCE-contaminated sites, and the reduction of the stochastic forces or enhancement of the deterministic interventions may promote more effective biostimulation.

The 636-bp-long cDNA sequence of OsCu/Zn-SOD (AK059841) was cloned from Oryza sativa var. Longjing11 via reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The encoded protein comprised of 211 amino acids is highly homologous to Cu/Zn-SOD proteins from tuscacera rice and millet. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that in rice, the level of OsCu/Zn-SOD gene expression was lowest in roots and was highest in petals and during the S5 leaf stage. Moreover, the expression level of OsCu/Zn-SOD gene expression decreased during the L5 leaf stage to maturity. The level of OsCu/Zn-SOD gene expression, however, was increased under saline-sodic stress and NaHCO3 stress. Germination tests under 125, 150, and 175 mM NaCl revealed that OsCu/Zn-SOD-overexpressing lines performed better than the non-transgenic (NT) Longjing11 lines in terms of germination rate and height. Subjecting seedlings to NaHCO3 and water stress revealed that OsCu/Zn-SOD-overexpressing lines performed better than NT in terms of SOD activity, fresh weight, root length, and height. Under simulated NaHCO3 stress, OsCu/Zn-SOD-overexpressing lines performed better than NT in terms of survival rate (25.19% > 6.67%) and yield traits (average grain weight 20.6 > 18.15 g). This study showed that OsCu/Zn-SOD gene overexpression increases the detoxification capacity of reactive oxygen species in O. sativa and reduces salt-induced oxidative damage. We also revealed the regulatory mechanism of OsCu/Zn-SOD enzyme in saline-sodic stress resistance in O. sativa. Moreover, we provided an experimental foundation for studying the mechanism of OsCu/Zn-SOD enzymes in the chloroplast.