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Background: It has been reported that circular RNA hsa_circ_0044907 (circ_0044907) expression is overtly elevated in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient-derived BMMCs. However, the effect of circ_0044907 on AML progression remains un-clarified.Methods: Expression of circ_0044907 in BM and AML cells were detected with real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Cell viability, proliferation, apoptosis, and cycle progression were determined by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)−2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT), 5-ethynyl-2’-deoxyuridine (EDU), and flow cytometry assays. The regulatory mechanism of circ_0044907 was predicted by bioinformatics analysis and validated by dual-luciferase reporter, RNA pull-down, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assays. In vivo experiments were carried out to verify the function of circ_0044907.Results: Circ_0044907 was overexpressed in AML patient-derived BM and AML cells. Furthermore, circ_0044907 could distinguish AML patients from healthy controls, and high circ_0044907 expression in BM had a poor prognosis for AML patients, implying that circ_0044907 served as a diagnostic and prognostic indicator for AML. Functionally, circ_0044907 silencing reduced cell viability, restrained cell proliferation, arrested cell cycle progression, and induced cell apoptosis in AML cells in vitro. Furthermore, circ_0044907 knockdown decreased AML cell growth in xenograft mouse models. Mechanically, circ_0044907 sponged miR-186-5p to block the inhibiting effect of miR-186-5p on KIT. Silenced miR-186-5p expression weakened circ_0044907 knockdown mediated suppression on AML cell viability, proliferation, and cycle progression. Also, forced KIT expression weakened miR-186-5p upregulation mediated inhibition on AML cell viability, proliferation, and cycle progression.Conclusion: Circ_0044907 absorbed miR-186-5p to block the inhibiting impact of miR-186-5p on KIT, thus promoting AML progression.

Mixed cryoglobulinemia refers to the serum presence of a variety of cryoglobulins, which are defined as immunoglobulins that precipitate at temperatures of < 37°C. The most common cause of mixed cryoglobulinemia is hepatitis C virus (HCV), while other infections, including hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HIV infections, and lymphoproliferative and autoimmune disorders have also been associated with the disease. We reported a rare case of type II–III mixed cryoglobulinemia caused by alcoholic cirrhosis. We need to increase the awareness of and facilitate the early identification of mixed cryoglobulinemia in our clinical study when encountering a patient with liver cirrhosis combined with renal impairment so that treatment can begin early to improve the success rate of therapy and reduce the fatality rate in a potentially life-saving therapy.

To solve the difficulty that transverse vibration displacement of moving steel wire rope cannot be easily acquired, the present study proposes a method using Hough transform to measure plane transverse displacement of hoisting rope. According to the feature that the steel wire rope is mapped into the image with a form of line, first, image binaryzation, thinning, dilation and noise reduction are carried out on the initial static image, line extraction and coding are then conducted by Hough transform. Subsequently, a precision solving method to get the measured point on the line is developed based on the results of Hough transform; then, camera calibration is done with edge detection, on the basis of the region of interest, the dynamic displacement of the measured point is acquired by pixel traversing. Eventually, a measurement software system using MATLAB GUI is developed to obtain the plane transverse vibration displacement of steel wire rope. The presented method can help realize the non-contact, full-filed measurement of steel wire rope, which may be used in the mine hoisting system, elevator-hoisting system or other hoisting equipment.

Renal proximal tubular cells are highly vulnerable to different types of assaults during filtration and reabsorption, leading to acute renal dysfunction and eventual chronic kidney diseases (CKD). The chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin elicits cytotoxicity causing renal tubular cell death, but its executing mechanisms of action are versatile and elusive. Here, we show that cisplatin induces renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis by disrupting glutathione (GSH) metabolism. Upon cisplatin treatment, GSH metabolism is impaired leading to GSH depletion as well as the execution of mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and lipid oxidation-related ferroptosis through activating IL6/JAK/STAT3 signaling. Inhibition of JAK/STAT3 signaling reversed cell apoptosis and ferroptosis in response to cisplatin induction. Using a cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (CAKI) mouse model, we found that inhibition of JAK/STAT3 significantly mitigates cisplatin nephrotoxicity with a reduced level of serum BUN and creatinine as well as proximal tubular distortion. In addition, the GSH booster baicalein also reclaims cisplatin-induced renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis as well as the in vivo nephrotoxicity. In conclusion, cisplatin disrupts glutathione metabolism, leading to renal tubular cell apoptosis and ferroptosis. Rewiring glutathione metabolism represents a promising strategy for combating cisplatin nephrotoxicity.

Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent programmed cell death associated with severe kidney diseases, linked to decreased glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4). However, the spatial distribution of renal GPX4-mediated ferroptosis and the molecular events causing GPX4 reduction during ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) remain largely unknown. Using spatial transcriptomics, we identify that GPX4 is situated at the interface of the inner cortex and outer medulla, a hyperactive ferroptosis site post-I/R injury. We further discover OTU deubiquitinase 5 (OTUD5) as a GPX4-binding protein that confers ferroptosis resistance by stabilizing GPX4. During I/R, ferroptosis is induced by mTORC1-mediated autophagy, causing OTUD5 degradation and subsequent GPX4 decay. Functionally, OTUD5 deletion intensifies renal tubular cell ferroptosis and exacerbates acute kidney injury, while AAV-mediated OTUD5 delivery mitigates ferroptosis and promotes renal function recovery from I/R injury. Overall, this study highlights a new autophagy-dependent ferroptosis module: hypoxia/ischemia-induced OTUD5 autophagy triggers GPX4 degradation, offering a potential therapeutic avenue for I/R-related kidney diseases.

Abstract Most of the van der Waals homo- and hetero-junctions of group VIB two-dimensional (2D) transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs; MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, and WSe2) show indirect energy band gaps which hinders some of their applications especially in optoelectronics. In the current work, we demonstrate that most of the bilayers and even few-layers consisting of group VIB TMDs can have direct gaps by efficient weakening of their interlayer interactions via real and/or energy spaces tuning, which is based on insights from quantitative analyses of interlayer electronic hybridizations. Real space tuning here means introducing large-angle rotational misalignment between layers, which has been realized in a very recent experiment; and, energy space tuning means introducing energy mismatch between layers which can be introduced efficiently by different means thanks to the small vertical dielectric constant of 2D semiconducting TMDs. The efficient tuning in both real and energy spaces proposed here paves an avenue for indirect-direct gap regulation of homo- and hetero-junctions of TMDs and other 2D semiconductors. Notably, both tuning can be permanently preserved and hence our work is of great significance for the diverse applications of 2D semiconductors.

A method of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography quadrupole electrostatic field Orbitrap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap MS) was developed for rapid screening illegal additives in diet food. The efficacy of three extraction solvents for methanol, acetonitrile and acetonitrile containing 1% formic acid were evaluated for the extraction of illegal additives from green plums and jellies. Ultimately, acetonitrile is selected to extract illegally additives under ultrasonication. In order to achieve good separation of the additives by UHPLC in diet foods, four mobile phases were compared, including methanol (0.1% formic acid)-water (0.1% formic acid and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate), acetonitrile (0.1% formic acid)-water (0.1% formic acid and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate), acetonitrile-water (5 mmol/L ammonium acetate), acetonitrile-water. The effects of mobile phases and acidity levels on the chromatographic behavior of the additives were investigated, and acetonitrile-water containing 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate shows the best performance under appropriate gradient. Then, the MS data were acquired in Full MS/dd-MS2 mode on UHPLC-Q/Orbitrap MS with the matrix-matched external standard method for quantification. Based on the self-constructed database of illegal additives in diet foods, one unknown additive is detected in a diet food containing green plums and jelly. By characterizing the molecular ion peak, secondary fragment ion information, and isotopic information, the unknown compound is identified to be 4-chlorobisacetophenetidin, also an illegal additive, which was verified by computation of density functional theory and analysis of the standard substance. To validate the accuracy and reliability of the method, the limits of detection (LODs), the limits of quantification (LOQs), linear ranges, recoveries, relative standard deviations (RSDs) and matrix effect (ME) for eight compounds were determined. The LODs and LOQs of deacetylbisacodyl and bisacodyl are 0.001 and 0.005 mg/kg, respectively. The LODs and LOQs of other compounds are 0.05 and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively. The correlation coefficient (R2) is higher than 0.999. All of the compounds exhibit varying degrees of MEs from moderate to weak, and the recoveries is in the range of 71.02%-103.01% with the RSDs of 0.87%-13.24%. The approach was applied to diet food containing green plums and jelly. The 4-chlorobisacodyl are detected in 30% of the green plums, suggesting that this method is suitable for the rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis of illegal additives in diet food. It is also demonstrated that the established screening process plays a positive role in identifying potential risk substances. The combination of quantum chemistry computation and mass spectrometry provides a novel strategy for the identification of unknown additives in food.

This study evaluated the factor structure, measurement invariance, criterion-related and incremental validity of the Chinese version of the Academic Grit Scale (AGS) among 723 adolescents from mainland China. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the single-factor model, exhibiting scalar invariance across gender and partial scalar invariance across groups (i.e., middle and high school students). The AGS total score showed internal consistency and temporal stability when used one month later. Moreover, academic grit was shown to be positively correlated with academic achievement, general grit, and dimensional student engagement. Academic grit also predicted academic achievement after isolating the effects of the related variables (i.e., general grit and student engagement) and overlapping components of academic grit and the related variables. Overall, the Chinese version of the AGS demonstrated adequate reliability and validity and was shown to be a useful tool for examining academic grit in Chinese adolescents.

Abstract Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent programmed cell death associated with severe kidney diseases, linked to decreased glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4). However, the spatial distribution of renal GPX4-mediated ferroptosis and the molecular events causing GPX4 reduction during ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) remain largely unknown. Using spatial transcriptomics, we identify that GPX4 is situated at the interface of the inner cortex and outer medulla, a hyperactive ferroptosis site post-I/R injury. We further discover OTU deubiquitinase 5 (OTUD5) as a GPX4-binding protein that confers ferroptosis resistance by stabilizing GPX4. During I/R, ferroptosis is induced by mTORC1-mediated autophagy, causing OTUD5 degradation and subsequent GPX4 decay. Functionally, OTUD5 deletion intensifies renal tubular cell ferroptosis and exacerbates acute kidney injury, while AAV-mediated OTUD5 delivery mitigates ferroptosis and promotes renal function recovery from I/R injury. Overall, this study highlights a new autophagy-dependent ferroptosis module: hypoxia/ischemia-induced OTUD5 autophagy triggers GPX4 degradation, offering a potential therapeutic avenue for I/R-related kidney diseases.

Bilayer and few-layer MoS_{2} show intrinsically higher electronic quality and substantially improved device performance than monolayer, and high-quality MoS_{2} wafers with controlled layer number have been grown. In addition, MoS_{2} has different polymorphs such as the semiconducting H phase and semimetallic distorted T (dT) phase, and vertically stacked dT-/H-MoS_{2} metal-semiconductor junctions (MSJs) have been synthesized. However, the contact mechanism of dT-/H (few layer)-MoS_{2} MSJs remains to be elucidated, and p-type ohmic contact to MoS_{2} is difficult to realize due to the high ionization energy of MoS_{2}. In the current work, we reveal a mechanism of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors (2DSCs) layer-number-assisted metal-semiconductor (SC) interface engineering for Schottky barrier height (SBH) reduction and p-type ohmic contact is achieved based on this mechanism; 2DSCs here mean H (few layer)-MoS_{2} and metal-SC interfaces are the dT-/H-MoS_{2} interfaces with increasing 2DSC layers. Specifically speaking, the mechanism is as follows: (1) two competing effects coexist, namely, the interface dipole (ΔV) at the metal-SC interface and the quasibonding (QB) between all adjacent layers, with ΔV (QB) increasing (decreasing) SBH; (2) the effect of QB beats ΔV and hence the overall effect is decreasing SBH at the metal-SC interface; and (3) the SBH reduction effect increases with increasing 2DSC layers. The mechanism of 2DSC layer-number-assisted metal-SC interface engineering should apply also for other 2DSCs with a suitable metal and hence our current work paves an avenue for ohmic contact to few-layer 2DSCs by the accumulated interlayer QBs that widely present in 2DSCs.

Although research has shown that two types of academic encouragement (i.e., challenge-focused and potential-focused encouragement) generally increase academic engagement, few studies have explored how they relate to academic engagement among first-year undergraduate students. Moreover, little is known on psychological mechanisms linking encouragement to educational outcomes. This study explored the indirect effects of encouragement on academic engagement via grit's dimensions (i.e., perseverance of effort and consistency of interests) among 485 Chinese first-year undergraduate students. Results showed that overall academic encouragement, challenge-focused encouragement and potential-focused encouragement positively predicted perseverance of effort and academic engagement. However, the predictive effects of overall academic encouragement, challenge-focused encouragement and potential-focused encouragement on consistency of interests were faint. Results also indicated that overall academic encouragement, challenge-focused encouragement and potential-focused encouragement indirectly predicted academic engagement through perseverance of effort rather than consistency of interests. These findings underscore the importance of identifying pathways through which specific types of encouragement indirectly relate to academic engagement., Author(s): Hui Tang [sup.1] [sup.2] , Jesus Alfonso D. Datu [sup.3] , Zhijun Liu [sup.4] , Jiefei Shen [sup.1] , Qiang Xing [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.413067.7, 0000 0004 1758 [...]

The electronic-structure evolutions of few-layer black phosphorus (BP) under pressure shows a wealth of phenomena, such as the nonmonotonic change of direct gap at the Γ point, the layer-number dependence, and the distinct responses to normal and hydrostatic pressures. A full and unified understanding to these rich phenomena remains lacking. Here, we provide a unified understanding from the competition between interlayer quasibonding (QB) interactions and intralayer chemical bonding interactions. The former decreases while the latter increases the band gap under pressure and the origin can be correlated to different combinations of inter- and intralayer antibonding or bonding interactions at the band edges. More interestingly, the interlayer QB interactions are a coexistence of two categories of interactions, namely, the coexistence of interactions between bands of the same occupancy (occupied-occupied and empty-empty interactions) and of different occupancies (occupied-empty interaction); and, the overall effect is a four-level interaction, which explains the anomalous interlayer-antibonding feature of the conduction band edge of bilayer BP. Our current study lays the foundation for the electronic-structure tuning of two-dimensional (2D) BP, and, our analysis method for multi-energy-level interactions can be applied to other 2D semiconductor homo- and heterostructures that have occupied-empty interlayer interactions.