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Introduction: The proportion of animal based foods in daily diet of consumers is constantly increasing, with chicken being highly favored due to its high protein and low fat characteristics. The consumption of chicken around the world is steadily increasing. Intramuscular fat (IMF) is a key indicator affecting meat quality. Object: High IMF content can contribute to improve the quality of chicken meat. The regulatory mechanism of IMF deposition in chicken is poorly understood, so its complete elucidation is essential to improve chicken meat quality. Method: Here, we performed whole genome resequencing on 516 yellow feather chickens and single-cell RNA sequencing on 3 63-day-old female JXY chickens. In addition, transcriptome sequencing techniques were also performed on breast muscle tissue of JXY chickens at different developmental stages. And 13C isotope tracing technique was applied. Results: In this study, a large-scale genetic analysis of an IMF-selected population and a control population identified fatty acid synthase (FASN) as a key gene for improving IMF content. Also, contrary to conventional view, de novo lipogenesis (DNL) was deemed to be an important contributor to IMF deposition. As expected, further analyses by isotope tracing and other techniques, confirmed that DNL mainly occurs in myocytes, contributing about 40% of the total fatty acids through the regulation of FASN, using the available FAs as substrates. Additionally, we also identified a relevant causal mutation in the FASN gene with effects on FA composition. Conclusion: These findings contribute to the understanding of fat metabolism in muscle tissue of poultry, and provide the feasible strategy for the production of high-quality chicken meat.

ABSTRACT: Fatty acids (FAs) can serve as energy for poultry, maintain normal cell structure and function, and support a healthy immune system. Although the addition of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to the diet has been extensively studied and reported, the mechanism of action of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) remains to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of 0.04% dietary myristic acid (MA) on slaughter performance, lipid components, tissue FAs, and the transcriptome profile in chickens. The results showed that dietary MA had no effect on slaughter performance (body weight, carcass weight, eviscerated weight, and pectoral muscle weight) (P > 0.05). Dietary MA enrichment increased MA (P

Abstract Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) has garnered considerable attention globally. Changing lifestyles, over-nutrition, and physical inactivity have promoted its development. MASLD is typically accompanied by obesity and is strongly linked to metabolic syndromes. Given that MASLD prevalence is on the rise, there is an urgent need to elucidate its pathogenesis. Hepatic lipid accumulation generally triggers lipotoxicity and induces MASLD or progress to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) by mediating endoplasmic reticulum stress, oxidative stress, organelle dysfunction, and ferroptosis. Recently, significant attention has been directed towards exploring the role of gut microbial dysbiosis in the development of MASLD, offering a novel therapeutic target for MASLD. Considering that there are no recognized pharmacological therapies due to the diversity of mechanisms involved in MASLD and the difficulty associated with undertaking clinical trials, potential targets in MASLD remain elusive. Thus, this article aimed to summarize and evaluate the prominent roles of lipotoxicity, ferroptosis, and gut microbes in the development of MASLD and the mechanisms underlying their effects. Furthermore, existing advances and challenges in the treatment of MASLD were outlined.

Abstract Cancer is a heterogeneous disease. Although both tumor metabolism and tumor immune microenvironment are recognized as driving factors in tumorigenesis, the relationship between them is still not well-known, and potential combined targeting approaches remain to be identified. Here, we demonstrated a negative correlation between the expression of NAMPT, an NAD+ metabolism enzyme, and PD-L1 expression in various cancer cell lines. A clinical study showed that a NAMPTHigh PD-L1Low expression pattern predicts poor prognosis in patients with various cancers. In addition, pharmacological inhibition of NAMPT results in the transcription upregulation of PD-L1 by SIRT-mediated acetylation change of NF-κB p65, and blocking PD-L1 would induce NAMPT expression through a HIF-1-dependent glycolysis pathway. Based on these findings, we designed and synthesized a dual NAMPT/PD-L1 targeting compound, LZFPN-90, which inhibits cell growth in a NAMPT-dependent manner and blocks the cell cycle, subsequently inducing apoptosis. Under co-culture conditions, LZFPN-90 treatment contributes to the proliferation and activation of T cells and blocks the growth of cancer cells. Using mice bearing genetically manipulated tumors, we confirmed that LZFPN-90 exerted target-dependent antitumor activities, affecting metabolic processes and the immune system. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the relevance of NAD+-related metabolic processes in antitumor immunity and suggest that co-targeting NAD+ metabolism and PD-L1 represents a promising therapeutic approach.

Abstract Soil organic carbon (SOC) has various pools with different stabilization mechanisms. It is unclear how these SOC pools respond to various mineral and organic amendments depending on a large climate-soil gradient. Here, we studied in three zonal soils: Ferralic Cambisol (subtropic), Calcaric Cambisol (warm-temperate) and Luvic Phaeozem (mid-temperate) under 23-year mineral, straw and manure amendments. Six SOC sub-pools were isolated: unprotected, physically, chemically, biochemically, physico-chemically and physico-biochemically protected pools. Compared to initial level, SOC and most sub-pools increased in the three soils under manure application (p

Abstract To explore the minds of others, which is traditionally referred to as Theory of Mind (ToM), is perhaps the most fundamental ability of humans as social beings. Impairments in ToM could lead to difficulties or even deficits in social interaction. The present study focuses on two core components of ToM, the ability to infer others’ beliefs and the ability to infer others’ emotions, which we refer to as cognitive and affective ToM respectively. Charting both typical and atypical trajectories underlying the cognitive-affective ToM promises to shed light on the precision identification of mental disorders, such as depressive disorders (DD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, most prior studies failed to capture the underlying processes involved in the cognitive-affective ToM in a fine-grained manner. To address this problem, we propose an innovative conceptual framework, referred to as visual theory of mind (V-ToM), by constructing visual scenes with emotional and cognitive meanings and by depicting explicitly a four-stage process of how humans make inferences about the beliefs and emotions of others. Through recording individuals’ eye movements while looking at the visual scenes, our model enables us to accurately measure each stage involved in the computation of cognitive-affective ToM, thereby allowing us to infer about potential difficulties that might occur in each stage. Our model is based on a large sample size (n > 700) and a novel audio-visual paradigm using visual scenes containing cognitive-emotional meanings. Here we report the obtained differential features among healthy controls, DD and ASD individuals that overcome the subjectivity of conventional questionnaire-based assessment, and therefore could serve as valuable references for mental health applications based on AI-aided digital medicine.

Summary: Epigenetic regulation of heart development remains incompletely understood. Here we show that LSD1, a histone demethylase, plays a crucial role in regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation during heart development. Cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Lsd1 in mice inhibited cardiomyocyte proliferation, causing severe growth defect of embryonic and neonatal heart. In vivo RNA-seq and in vitro functional studies identified Cend1 as a target suppressed by LSD1. Lsd1 loss resulted in elevated Cend1 transcription associated with increased active histone mark H3K4me2 at Cend1 promoter. Cend1 knockdown relieved the cell-cycle arrest and proliferation defect caused by LSD1 inhibition in primary rat cardiomyocytes. Moreover, genetic deletion of Cend1 rescued cardiomyocyte proliferation defect and embryonic lethality in Lsd1 null embryos. Consistently, LSD1 promoted the cell cycle of cardiomyocytes derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells by repressing CEND1. Together, these findings reveal an epigenetic regulatory mechanism involving the LSD1-CEND1 axis that controls cardiomyocyte proliferation essential for murine heart development.

Summary: Developing an ex vivo system that mimics in vivo developmental coronary angiogenesis provides an improved understanding of its underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms. Here, we present a sandwiched embryonic ventricular explant assay to model mouse coronary angiogenesis ex vivo. We describe steps for breeding mice, labeling endocardial cells, isolating murine hearts, dissecting left ventricles, and making sandwiched explants in Matrigel. We then detail procedures for modeling coronary angiogenesis and taking images.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Lu et al. (2023)1 : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

Background Endocardial cells are a major progenitor population that gives rise to heart valves through endocardial cushion formation by endocardial to mesenchymal transformation and the subsequent endocardial cushion remodeling. Genetic variants that affect these developmental processes can lead to congenital heart valve defects. Crk and Crkl are ubiquitously expressed genes encoding cytoplasmic adaptors essential for cell signaling. This study aims to explore the specific role of Crk and Crkl in the endocardial lineage during heart valve development. Methods and Results We deleted Crk and Crkl specifically in the endocardial lineage. The resultant heart valve morphology was evaluated by histological analysis, and the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms were investigated by immunostaining and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We found that the targeted deletion of Crk and Crkl impeded the remodeling of endocardial cushions at the atrioventricular canal into the atrioventricular valves. We showed that apoptosis was temporally increased in the remodeling atrioventricular endocardial cushions, and this developmentally upregulated apoptosis was repressed by deletion of Crk and Crkl. Loss of Crk and Crkl also resulted in altered extracellular matrix production and organization in the remodeling atrioventricular endocardial cushions. These morphogenic defects were associated with altered expression of genes in BMP (bone morphogenetic protein), connective tissue growth factor, and WNT signaling pathways, and reduced extracellular signal‐regulated kinase signaling activities. Conclusions Our findings support that Crk and Crkl have shared functions in the endocardial lineage that critically regulate atrioventricular valve development; together, they likely coordinate the morphogenic signals involved in the remodeling of the atrioventricular endocardial cushions.

Sexual dimorphism results in widely diverse animal forms, but sexual determination is generally attributed to a single gene in animal models. Here they find that the glu gene regulates sexual dimorphism of honeybee eyes, demonstrating diversification of genetic programs for dimorphism.

ObjectiveSarcopenia has been recognized as the third category of disabling complications in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM), in addition to micro- and macrovascular complications. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are innovative glucose-lowering treatments that have been shown to reduce body weight and enhance cardiovascular and renal outcomes. However, there is vigilance that SGLT2 inhibitors should be taken cautiously because they target skeletal muscle and may raise the risk of sarcopenia. Herein, we conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on sarcopenia in patients with T2DM.MethodRelevant studies were obtained from PubMed, Embase, Medicine, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases to determine eligible studies until February 2023, without any language restrictions. A random effects model was utilized irrespective of heterogeneity, and the I2 statistic was used to evaluate study heterogeneity. The differences in results were measured using the weighted average difference (WMD) of the continuous data, along with a 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsA total of 25 randomized controlled trials with 2,286 participants were included. SGLT2 inhibitors significantly reduced weight-related changes and fat-related changes, including body weight(BW) (WMD= -2.74, 95% CI: -3.26 to -2.23, P

In recent years, due to rapid economic development, the Bohai Rim has become a focus of attention. The area has abundant waterbird resources, however, the coastal wetlands in the Bohai Rim are currently under serious threat and waterbird conservation needs to be addressed urgently. Exploring the changes and main driving factors of waterbirds and conducting habitat suitability assessments for waterbirds are of great significance to regional ecology and environmental protection efforts. In this study, during the period of 2002–2021, we recorded the waterbird numbers and species in the Bohai Rim region of China. Then, we quantified the potential suitable habitats and analyzed the driving factors for waterbirds using the MaxEnt model. The results showed that the waterbird richness around the Bohai Rim increased gradually over a 20-year period, and more waterbird species were detected in wetland habitats than in other habitats. Five waterbird hotspot regions require special attention, including the Yellow River Delta Nature Reserve, Beidagang Wetland, Beidaihe National Wetland Park, Liaohe Estuary wetland and Caofeidian Wetland Park. The main driving factors of waterbird changes are the NDVI, land cover and maximum temperature in the warmest month. This study provides a reference and theoretical support for waterbird conservation and rational habitat use.

Hydroponic lettuce was prone to pest and disease problems after transplantation. Manual identification of the current growth status of each hydroponic lettuce not only consumed time and was prone to errors but also failed to meet the requirements of high-quality and efficient lettuce cultivation. In response to this issue, this paper proposed a method called YOLO-EfficientNet for identifying the growth status of hydroponic lettuce. Firstly, the video data of hydroponic lettuce were processed to obtain individual frame images. And 2240 images were selected from these frames as the image dataset A. Secondly, the YOLO-v8n object detection model was trained using image dataset A to detect the position of each hydroponic lettuce in the video data. After selecting the targets based on the predicted bounding boxes, 12,000 individual lettuce images were obtained by cropping, which served as image dataset B. Finally, the EfficientNet-v2s object classification model was trained using image dataset B to identify three growth statuses (Healthy, Diseases, and Pests) of hydroponic lettuce. The results showed that, after training image dataset A using the YOLO-v8n model, the accuracy and recall were consistently around 99%. After training image dataset B using the EfficientNet-v2s model, it achieved excellent scores of 95.78 for Val-acc, 94.68 for Test-acc, 96.02 for Recall, 96.32 for Precision, and 96.18 for F1-score. Thus, the method proposed in this paper had potential in the agricultural application of identifying and classifying the growth status in hydroponic lettuce.

Vascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, aneurysms, and vascular calcification, are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In past decades, the gut microbiota has been found to be an indispensable population exerting effects on hosts under physiological and pathological conditions. Gut microbiota-derived metabolites, such as trimethylamine-N-oxide and short-chain fatty acids, mediate these effects by regulating vascular cells systematically. Translation of research knowledge to clinical scenarios has led to the development of new therapies including dietary interventions and metabolite inhibitors. This review describes recent advancements in understanding of the interplay between the gut microbiota and vascular dysfunction, and potential treatments for vascular diseases.

Little is known about the developmental causes of aortic root defects. Here the authors show that the inactivation of Sox17 in aortic root endothelium results in aortic root defects affecting aortic valve and coronary ostium.

Objectives: Early neurological deterioration (END) after ischemic stroke is a severe clinical event and can be caused by hemorrhagic and ischemic injury. We studied the difference between the risk factors of END occurs with or without hemorrhagic transformation after intravenous thrombolysis. Materials and methods: Consecutive cerebral infarction patients who underwent intravenous thrombolysis from 2017 to 2020 in our hospital were retrospectively recruited. END was defined as a ≥2 points increase on 24-h National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score after therapy compared with the best neurological status after thrombolysis and divided into two types based on the computed tomography (CT): symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (ENDh) and non-hemorrhagic factors (ENDn). Potential risk factors of ENDh and ENDn were assessed by multiple logistic regression and applied to establish the prediction model. Results: A total of 195 patients were included. In multivariate analysis, the previous history of cerebral infarction (odds ratio [OR],15.19; 95% confidence interval [CI],1.43–161.17; P = 0.025), previous history of atrial fibrillation (OR,8.43; 95%CI,1.09–65.44; P = 0.043), higher baseline NIHSS score (OR,1.19; 95%CI,1.03–1.39; P = 0.022) and higher alanine transferase level (OR,1.05; 95%CI, 1.01–1.10; P = 0.016) were independently associated with ENDh. While higher systolic blood pressure (OR,1.03; 95%CI,1.01–1.05; P = 0.004), higher baseline NIHSS score (OR,1.13; 95%CI,2.86–27.43; P

Heart failure is typically caused by different cardiovascular conditions and has a poor prognosis. Despite the advances in treatment in recent decades, heart failure has remained a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. As revealed by in vivo and in vitro experiments, inflammation plays a crucial role in adverse cardiac remodeling, ultimately leading to heart failure. Macrophages are central to the innate immune system, and they are the most indispensable cell type for all cardiac injuries and remodeling stages. The immediate microenvironment regulates their polarization and secretion. In this review, we summarize the phenotypic heterogeneity and governing roles of macrophages in the infarcted, inflamed, and aging heart and assess their significance as potential therapeutic targets in heart failure. We also highlight the current missing links and major challenges in the field that remain to be addressed before macrophages can be exploited for therapeutic applications.

Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA, ω-3) is an antioxidant that reduces triglyceride (TG) levels in blood, a component of cell membranes and a precursor compound of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, ω-3) and eicosatrienoic acid (DHA, ω-3). Fatty acid content is a quantitative trait regulated by multiple genes, and the key genes regulating fatty acid metabolism have not been systematically identified. This study aims at investigating the protein-encoding genes regulating ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content in chicken meat. We integrated genomics, transcriptomics and lipidomics data of Jingxing yellow chicken (JXY) to explore the interactions and associations among multiple genes involved in the regulation of fatty acid metabolism. Several key genes and pathways regulating ω-3 fatty acid metabolism in chickens were identified. The upregulation of GRB10 inhibited the mTOR signaling pathway, thereby improving the content of EPA and DHA. The downregulation of FGFR3 facilitated the conversion of ALA to EPA. Additionally, we analyzed the effects of ALA supplementation dose on glycerol esters (GLs), phospholipid (PL) and fatty acyl (FA) contents, as well as the regulatory mechanisms of nutritional responses in FFA metabolism. This study provides a basis for identifying genes and pathways that regulate the content of FFAs, and offers a reference for nutritional regulation systems in production.

Based on the understanding that the essence of secondary recrystallization of Goss texture is to restrain the abnormal growth of {110}, {210} and partial Goss texture {110}, it was concluded that making sharp Goss grow up becomes the only choice. It was proposed that the abnormal growth mechanism of Goss texture was the result of selective generation, directed inheritance, and selective growth. The mechanism explained that the Goss texture was the most easily formed shear texture. In directed inheritance, the Goss texture was required to be highly compatible with the near-constant of the second-phase particle inhibition force, providing an optimal environment for the abnormal growth of the Goss texture by controlling the inhibition force near-constant. The control of the near-constant inhibition force provides an optimal environment for the abnormal growth of the Goss texture. Based on that, the process technology for producing low-temperature nitrided-oriented silicon steels and steel products was successfully developed.

As the intersection of multiple high-speed railway lines, the multi-station high-speed railway hub is the key to improve the transport efficiency of the high-speed railway network. This paper focuses on the optimization of the multi-station high-speed railway hub and models it as a train routing problem (TRP). Considering the capacity of railway infrastructures and the demand of passengers, a mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to minimize the total cost of train routes and passenger routes. The optimized train routes include the macroscopic routes between stations and the microscopic track allocation inside stations and Electric Multiple Units (EMUs) depots. A Lagrangian relaxation (LR) approach is developed to dualize the hard constraints and decompose the origin model into train and passenger subproblems, then a shortest path algorithm is designed to solve the subproblems independently. Numerical experiments based on an illustrative railway hub network and a real-world network are implemented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model and algorithm. The solution results prove that the LR approach can obtain high-quality solutions within an acceptable computational time. Compared with the existing fixed scheme, the optimization scheme can reduce the total cost by 37.18% and utilize the railway lines and tracks more reasonably.

The plant UV-B photoreceptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) exists as a homodimer in its inactive ground state. Upon UV-B exposure, UVR8 monomerizes and interacts with a downstream key regulator, the CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1/SUPPRESSOR OF PHYA (COP1/SPA) E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, to initiate UV-B signaling. Two WD40 proteins, REPRESSOR OF UV-B PHOTOMORPHOGENESIS 1 (RUP1) and RUP2 directly interact with monomeric UVR8 and facilitate UVR8 ground state reversion, completing the UVR8 photocycle. Here, we reconstituted the RUP-mediated UVR8 redimerization process in vitro and reported the structure of the RUP2-UVR8W285A complex (2.0 Å). RUP2 and UVR8W285A formed a heterodimer via two distinct interfaces, designated Interface 1 and 2. The previously characterized Interface 1 is found between the RUP2 WD40 domain and the UVR8 C27 subregion. The newly identified Interface 2 is formed through interactions between the RUP2 WD40 domain and the UVR8 core domain. Disruption of Interface 2 impaired UV-B induced photomorphogenic development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Further biochemical analysis indicated that both interfaces are important for RUP2-UVR8 interactions and RUP2-mediated facilitation of UVR8 redimerization. Our findings suggest that the two-interface-interaction mode is adopted by both RUP2 and COP1 when they interact with UVR8, marking a step forward in understanding the molecular basis that underpins the interactions between UVR8 and its photocycle regulators.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a key component of the water and carbon cycles. Because it cannot be observed directly on large regional scales at present, many satellite-based ET datasets have been widely used for different purposes. However, their use has been limited at regional and field scales because of their coarse spatial and temporal resolution. In this study, the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method was used to simulate daily ET values with 500 m spatial resolution in the Haihe River Basin (HRB) from 2000 to 2019. Validation performed with the in-situ observations showed that the BMA ET values had higher accuracy (R2 = 0.69, RMSE = 1.15 mm/day) than those found with individual models. The BMA ET values also had higher accuracy and more credibility based on a water balance equation validation in the HRB. We used interpolated meteorological datasets, reanalysis net radiation products, and remote-sensing datasets to drive the BMA ET model. The mean annual BMA ET in the HRB from 2000 to 2019 was about 601.8 mm/year. The monthly change characteristics of this BMA ET product reflected water consumption characteristics and irrigation regularity of the winter wheat and summer maize rotation system. The BMA ET in the HRB showed a significant increasing trend from 2000 to 2019 of 3.39 mm/y2. The BMA ET values showed a strong positive trend at 80 % of HRB areas. The increasing trend of the BMA ET values was mainly attributed to an increase in the leaf area index. The high spatiotemporal resolution product showed variations in ET trends more accurately than the coarse resolution products. This high spatiotemporal product has great potential for applications in studies of regional microclimate change, interactions between human activities and climate change, drought disaster monitoring, agricultural policy making, and water security.

Abstract Background With increasing urbanization in developing countries, sanitation workers are frequently involved in road traffic collisions. Our purpose was to study specific collisions involving sanitation workers and provide decision-making suggestions and reference measures for the sanitation industry and urban managers to reduce the occurrence of collisions. Methods We obtained online news data about sanitation worker road traffic collisions in China between 2013 and 2017 and analyzed occurrence time and location, victim characteristics, and causes of collisions. Results In China, between 2013 and 2017, 511 road traffic collisions were reported, with the fewest in February and July. Most occurred around 5:00 a.m. in Eastern regions and in urban areas. Victims were mainly over 50 years old, with more females than males. Collisions usually resulted in death at the scene. The ambiguity of laws, the exploitation of workers through industry outsourcing, and the difficulty of processing claims may be the main factors preventing victims from obtaining legal compensation. Conclusions The most common cause of collisions was drivers’ speeding, but workers also regularly risk death by crossing the road in pursuit of their duties. The absence of legal controls for environmental protection, the excessive pursuit of efficiency in urban governance, and the lack of basic education of sanitation workers are underlying causes of collisions. Raising awareness about sanitation worker road traffic collisions will help protect the work safety rights of this vulnerable group.

In this paper, Proportional Gain Resonant and Gain Scheduled Proportional (PR-P) Controller based variable perturbation size real-time adaptive perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm is presented. The proposed control scheme resolved the drawbacks of conventional P&O MPPT method associated with the use of constant perturbation size that leads to poor transient response and high continuous steady-state oscillations. The prime objective of using the PR-P controller is to utilize inherited properties of the signal produced by the controller’s resonant path and integrate it to update best estimated perturbation that represents the working principle of extremum seeking control (ESC) to use in P&O algorithm that characterizes the overall system learning-based real time adaptive (RTA). Additionally, utilization of internal dynamics of the PR-P controller overcome the challenges namely, complexity, computational burden, implantation cost and slow tracking performance in association with commonly used soft computing intelligent systems and adaptive control strategies. The proposed control scheme is verified using MATLAB/Simulink by applying comparative analysis with PI controlled conventional P&O MPPT algorithm. Moreover, performance of the proposed control scheme is validated experimentally with the implementation of MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow on dSPACE Real-time-interface (RTI) 1007 processor board, DS2004 A/D and CP4002 Digital I/O boards. The experimental results and analysis reveal that the proposed control strategy enhanced the tracking speed five times with reduced steady-state oscillations around maximum power point (MPP) and more than 99% energy extracting efficiency.

In this study, a novel PV emulator and the state-of-art learning–based real-time hybrid global search adaptive perturb and observe (P&O) maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm have been presented. The prime objective of the constructed emulator based on integration of unilluminated solar panels with an external current source to overcome the constraints such as the need for wide surrounding space, high installation cost, and lack of control over the environmental conditions. Moreover, the developed algorithm resolved the drawbacks of the conventional P&O MPPT method associated with the use of a constant perturbation size that leads to poor transient response, high continuous steady-state oscillation, and inefficient tracking performance of maximum power point voltage in the presence of partial shading. The intended algorithm has been verified using MATLAB/Simulink by applying comparative analysis with the conventional P&O MPPT. In addition, the performance of the proposed control scheme is validated experimentally with the implementation of MATLAB/Simulink/Stateflow a on dSPACE Real-Time-Interface (RTI) 1007 processor board and DS2004 A/D and CP4002 Digital I/O boards. The results indicate that the algorithm is effective in reducing power losses and faster in tracking the speed of the maximum power point with less oscillation. In addition, excellent dynamic characteristics of the proposed emulator have been proven to be an ideal tool for testing PV inverters and various maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithms for commercial applications and university studies.

Rice florets are subtended by two sterile lemmas, whose origin and biological functions have not been studied extensively. Here we demonstrate that two putative transcription factors, LAX PANICLE1 (LAX1) and FRIZZY PANICLE (FZP), synergistically control the development of sterile lemmas. Both LAX1 and FZP are previously known for their roles in panicle and floret development. Disruption of either LAX1 or FZP greatly reduces the number of floret development. We generated new lax1 mutants (lax1-c) using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. In addition to the expected lax panicle phenotypes, we noticed that a significant number of spikelets of lax1-c developed elongated sterile lemmas. Moreover, our characterization of lax1-RNAi plants also revealed sterile lemma phenotypes similar to lax1-c mutants. We isolated a weak allele of fzp (fzp-14) in a genetic screen for lax1–1 enhancers. The fzp-14 lax1–1 double mutants completely eliminated flower development. Interestingly, the isolated fzp-14 produced spikelets with elongated sterile lemmas. Furthermore, fzp-14 was haploid-insufficient in the lax1–1 background whereas fzp-14 heterozygous plants were indistinguishable from wild type plants. The lax1–1 fzp-14+/− also developed elongated sterile lemma as observed in lax1-c, lax1-RNAi, and fzp-14, suggesting that LAX1 and FZP synergistically control sterile lemma development. Keywords: LAX1, FZP, Rice, CRISPR, Flower development, Sterile lemma

To understand the pollution characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the glass deep-processing industry, samples were collected using polyvinyl fluoride bags and quickly transferred to summa tanks for GC/MS/FID analysis. The emission characteristics of VOCs, the ozone formation potential and the secondary aerosol formation potential were studied. The results showed that the VOCs emitted by the six enterprises were mainly aromatics and OVOCs, accounting for 35% to 97% of the emissions, with high emission loads of alkanes and halocarbons from individual enterprises. The stack emissions from Enterprise 2 were as high as 38 mg/m3, while the emissions from the remaining five enterprises were all in the range of 1.7~4.1 mg/m3, probably because the terminal treatment facilities were not updated in a timely manner, resulting in excessive stack emissions from Enterprise 2. The characteristic pollutants, including OVOCs, aromatics and alkanes, which are mainly derived from spray painting and gluing, were screened in the six enterprises. Aromatics and OVOCs contributed the most to the ozone formation potential in the six enterprises, with some enterprises having a high contribution from alkanes and alkenes. On the basis of the secondary aerosol formation potential, toluene, benzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene and m/p-xylene account for 98% of the six enterprises’ emissions. Glass enterprises should prioritise the control of benzene and OVOCs emissions. The glass processing industry mainly emits aromatics, OVOCs and alkanes. Through a preliminary study on the emission characteristics of VOCs in the glass deep-processing industry, we provided basic data for the reduction and control of VOCs in the glass deep-processing industry in China.

Abdominal fat percentage (AFP) is an important economic trait in chickens. Intensive growth selection has led to the over-deposition of abdominal fat in chickens, but the genetic basis of AFP is not yet clear. Using 520 female individuals from selection and control lines of Jingxing yellow chicken, we investigated the genetic basis of AFP using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and fixation indices (FST). A 0.15 MB region associated with AFP was located on chromosome 27 and included nine significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which could account for 3.34–5.58% of the phenotypic variation. In addition, the π value, genotype frequency, and dual-luciferase results identified SNP rs312715211 in the intron region of ZNF652 as the key variant. The wild genotype was associated with lower AFP and abdominal fat weight (AFW), but higher body weight (BW). Finally, annotated genes based on the top 1% SNPs were used to investigate the physiological function of ZNF652. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis suggested that ZNF652 may reduce AFW and BW in broilers through the TGF-β1/SMad2/3 and MAPK/FoxO pathways via EGFR and TGFB1. Our findings elucidated the genetic basis of chicken AFP, rs312715211 on the ZNF652 gene, which can affect BW and AFW and was the key variant associated with AFP. These data provide new insight into the genetic mechanism underlying AF deposition in chickens and could be beneficial in breeding chickens for AF.

The parasitoid wasp Muscidifurax raptorellus (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) is a gregarious species that has received extensive attention for its potential in biological pest control against house fly, stable fly, and other filth flies. It has a high reproductive capacity and can be reared easily. However, genome assembly is not available for M. raptorellus or any other species in this genus. Previously, we assembled a complete circular mitochondrial genome with a length of 24,717 bp. Here, we assembled and annotated a high-quality nuclear genome of M. raptorellus, using a combination of long-read (104× genome coverage) and short-read (326× genome coverage) sequencing technologies. The assembled genome size is 314 Mbp in 226 contigs, with a 97.9% BUSCO completeness score and a contig N50 of 4.67 Mb, suggesting excellent continuity of this assembly. Our assembly builds the foundation for comparative and evolutionary genomic analysis in the genus of Muscidifurax and possible future biocontrol applications.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the leading cause of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) with a high rate of mortality worldwide. Plasma cell-free DNA (cfDNA), mainly originating from apoptosis, necrosis, and active secretion, has been recognized as a promising biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of multiple cancers, whereas there are no reports about cfDNA in CVDs. Here, we found an increased quantity and decreased integrity of cfDNA (cfDI) in the serum from AS patients compared with normal controls. Moreover, the reduced cfDI is inversely correlated with serum LDL levels, carotid plaque size, and carotid plaque thickness in the progression of AS. Consistently, in vivo experiments confirmed that the release and cleavage of cfDNA were increased concomitantly with the development and progression of AS in ApoE−/− mice. Our study sheds light on the potential of cfDNA and cfDI as molecular biomarkers for detecting and monitoring AS.

NOTCH intercellular signaling mediates the communications between adjacent cells involved in multiple biological processes essential for tissue morphogenesis and homeostasis. The NOTCH1 mutations are the first identified human genetic variants that cause congenital bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) and calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). Genetic variants affecting other genes in the NOTCH signaling pathway may also contribute to the development of BAV and the pathogenesis of CAVD. While CAVD occurs commonly in the elderly population with tri-leaflet aortic valve, patients with BAV have a high risk of developing CAVD at a young age. This observation indicates an important role of NOTCH signaling in the postnatal homeostasis of the aortic valve, in addition to its prenatal functions during aortic valve development. Over the last decade, animal studies, especially with the mouse models, have revealed detailed information in the developmental etiology of congenital aortic valve defects. In this review, we will discuss the molecular and cellular aspects of aortic valve development and examine the embryonic pathogenesis of BAV. We will focus our discussions on the NOTCH signaling during the endocardial-to-mesenchymal transformation (EMT) and the post-EMT remodeling of the aortic valve. We will further examine the involvement of the NOTCH mutations in the postnatal development of CAVD. We will emphasize the deleterious impact of the embryonic valve defects on the homeostatic mechanisms of the adult aortic valve for the purpose of identifying the potential therapeutic targets for disease intervention.

The system log reflects the running status of the system and records the activity information of specific events in the system.Therefore,the rapid and accurate detection of the system abnormal log is important to the security and stability of the system.A log anomaly detection algorithm based on GRU neural network is proposed.Log parsing is implemented based on log key technology.Log anomaly detection is realized by using anomaly detection model of execution path and anomaly detection model of parameter value.The system has the advantages of less parameters and faster training.It improves the running speed while achieving higher detection accuracy,and is suitable for log analysis of large information systems.

As the core of the rail freight flow organization process, train formation problem (TFP) has attracted much attention. In Chinese practice, car flow routing, TFP, and train routing are usually optimized sequentially to reduce the complexity of computation, which may result in a local optimum, and even no feasible solution. To address this issue, this paper studies the integrated optimization of the three sub problems with aims to minimize the total cost of transportation cost, accumulation cost, and classification cost. An integer linear arc-based model incorporating the unitary and in-tree rules of a shipment is first formulated and solved by the state-of-the-art solver GUROBI. Since GUROBI can't deal with the large test cases, a path-based model is built and solved by a bespoken two-phase algorithm. The first phase of the algorithm is Benders-and-Price approach that combines Benders decomposition and column generation, and the second phase is to solve the arc-based model with some variables fixed as the corresponding values fetched from the first phase. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms GUROBI, and the acceleration techniques, i.e., trust region and Pareto-optimal cuts, can improve the convergence efficiency of Benders decomposition significantly.

RNA interference (RNAi) is a technique used in many insects to study gene function. However, prior research suggests possible off-target effects when using Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) sequence as a non-target control. We used a transcriptomic approach to study the effect of GFP RNAi (GFP-i) in Nasonia vitripennis, a widely used parasitoid wasp model system. Our study identified 3.4% of total genes being differentially expressed in response to GFP-i. A subset of these genes appears involved in microtubule and sperm functions. In silico analysis identified 17 potential off-targets, of which only one was differentially expressed after GFP-i. We suggest the primary cause for differential expression after GFP-i is the non-specific activation of the RNAi machinery at the injection site, and a potentially disturbed spermatogenesis. Still, we advise that any RNAi study involving the genes deregulated in this study, exercises caution in drawing conclusions and uses a different non-target control.

In the present study, we investigated the genetic variation in a family with acute encephalopathy and retinitis pigmentosa. Nine of 25 people in this family underwent genetic testing. Three family members, namely, the proband and the proband's two sisters, showed symptoms resembling those of meningoencephalitis and simultaneously suffered from retinitis pigmentosa. Whole-exome sequencing and Sanger sequencing identified a heterozygous mutation, chr14: 73673106 c.881G>A (p.W294*), in the presenilin 1 (PSEN1) gene in these three family members, and the SWISS-MODEL server predicted the formation of a truncated protein. This mutation was not found in the asymptomatic family members. This mutation is a newly discovered nonsense mutation that results in a truncated protein. Although the current genetic evidences may indicate the likelihood of association, further investigations are needed to establish the genotype and phenotype relationship.

Abstract Soil microorganisms are considered to be important indicators of soil fertility and soil quality. Most previous studies have focused solely on surface soil, but there were numerous active cells in deeper soil layers. However, studies regarding microbial communities in deeper soil layers were not comprehensive and sufficient. In this study, phylogenetic molecular ecological networks (pMENs) based on the 16S rRNA Miseq sequencing technique were applied to study the response of soil microbial communities to depth gradients and the changes of key genera along 3 meter depth gradients (0–0.2 m, 0.2–0.4 m 0.4–0.6 m, 0.6–0.8 m, 0.8–1.0 m, 1.0–1.3 m, 1.3–1.6 m, 1.6–2.0 m, 2.0–2.5 m, and 2.5–3.0 m). The results showed that the modularity of microbial communities was consistently high in all soil layers and each layer was similar, which indicated that microbial communities were more resistant to depth changes. The pMENs further demonstrated that microbial community interactions were stable as the depth increased and they cooperated well to adapt to changes in different soil gradients. This was evidenced by similar positive links, average degree, and average clustering coefficient. In addition, key genera were obtained by analyzing module hubs in the pMENs. There may be at least one dominant genus in each layer that adapted to and resisted changes in the soil environment. It seems microbial communities demonstrate a stable and strong adaptability to depth gradients in farmland soils.

As a bridge from the sound signal in the air to the sound perception of the inner ear auditory receptor, the tympanic membrane and ossicular chain of the middle ear transform the sound signal in the outer ear through two gas-solid and solid-liquid conversions. In addition, through the lever principle formed by three auditory ossicle structure, the sound was concentrated and amplified to the inner ear. However, the sound transmission function of the middle ear will be decreased by disease, genetic, or trauma. Hence, using middle ear prosthesis to replace the damaged ossicles can restore the conduction function. The function realization of middle ear prosthesis depends on the vibration response of the prosthesis from the tympanic membrane to the stapes plate on the human auditory perception frequency, which is affected by the way the prosthesis combined with the tympanic membrane, the material, and the geometric shape. In this study, reasonable prosthetic structures had been designed for different types of ossicular chain injuries, and the frequency response characteristics were analyzed by the finite element method then. Moreover, in order to achieve better vibration frequency response, a ball structure was designed in the prosthesis to simulate its amplification function. The results showed that the middle ear prostheses constructed by different injury types can effectively transfer vibration energy. In particular, the first- and second-order resonant frequencies and response amplitudes are close to each other when ball structure models of different materials are added. Instead, the resonance frequency of the third stage formed by aluminum alloy ball materials is larger than that of the other two, which showed good response features.

Civic participation in news production has been a trend under academic scrutiny for at least two decades. The prevalence of digital communication and the dominance of proprietary platforms are two combining forces that disrupt the established journalistic norms. In this article, we investigate news participation and make three grand statements regarding: 1) the holistic definition of participation, 2) the network structure of participation delineating the power dynamics of different media actors, and 3) the transnational context of participation exhibiting the structural constraints within nation-state sovereignty. It is our argument that news participation as a civic act in the digital, globalized age has not fundamentally democratized the information flow as early optimists predicted. Instead, a group of “information elite” have risen to power due to their access to institutional resources, their advantageous positioning in the media ecology, and their entrenchment in the dominant ideology. Participation on proprietary platforms can be easily co-opted to serve the interest of the new information elite.

Abstract Despite the importance of cardiomyocyte proliferation in cardiac development and regeneration, the mechanisms that promote cardiomyocyte cell cycle remain incompletely understood. RE1 silencing transcription factor (REST) is a transcriptional repressor of neuronal genes. Here we show that REST also regulates the cardiomyocyte cell cycle. REST binds and represses the cell cycle inhibitor gene p21 and is required for mouse cardiac development and regeneration. Rest deletion de-represses p21 and inhibits the cardiomyocyte cell cycle and proliferation in embryonic or regenerating hearts. By contrast, REST overexpression in cultured cardiomyocytes represses p21 and increases proliferation. We further show that p21 knockout rescues cardiomyocyte cell cycle and proliferation defects resulting from Rest deletion. Our study reveals a REST-p21 regulatory axis as a mechanism for cell cycle progression in cardiomyocytes, which might be exploited therapeutically to enhance cardiac regeneration.

Remotely sensed vegetation indices (VIs) have been widely used to estimate the aboveground biomass (AGB) carbon stock of coastal wetlands by establishing Vis-related linear models. However, these models always have high uncertainties due to the large spatial variation and fragmentation of coastal wetlands. In this paper, an efficient coastal wetland AGB model for the Bohami Rim coastal wetlands was presented based on multiple data sets. The model was developed statistically with 7 independent variables from 23 metrics derived from remote sensing, topography, and climate data. Compared to previous models, it had better performance, with a root mean square error and r value of 188.32 g m−2 and 0.74, respectively. Using the model, we firstly generated a regional coastal wetland AGB map with a 10 m spatial resolution. Based on the AGB map, the AGB carbon stock of the Bohai Rim coastal wetland was 2.11 Tg C in 2019. The study demonstrated that integrating emerging high spatial resolution multi-remote sensing data and several auxiliary metrics can effectively improve VIs-based coastal wetland AGB models. Such models with emerging freely available data sets will allow for the rapid monitoring and better understanding of the special role that “blue carbon” plays in global carbon cycle.

Though coronary arteries are crucial for heart function, the mechanisms guiding their formation are largely unknown. Here, Wang et al. identify a unique, endocardially-derived angiogenic precursor cell population for coronary artery formation in mice and show that a DLL4/NOTCH1/VEGFA/VEGFR2 signaling axis is key for coronary artery development.

Background Heart tube looping to form a 4‐chambered heart is a critical stage of embryonic heart development, but the gene drivers and their regulatory targets have not been extensively characterized at the cell‐type level. Methods and Results To study the interaction of signaling pathways, transcription factors (TFs), and genetic networks in the process, we constructed gene co‐expression networks and identified gene modules highly activated in individual cardiomyocytes at multiple anatomical regions and developmental stages using previously published single‐cell RNA‐seq data. Function analyses of the modules uncovered major pathways important for spatiotemporal cardiomyocyte differentiation. Interestingly, about half of the pathways were highly active in cardiomyocytes at the outflow tract (OFT) and atrioventricular canal, including well‐known pathways for cardiac development and many newly identified ones. We predicted that these OFT‐atrioventricular canal pathways were regulated by a large number of TFs actively expressed at the OFT–atrioventricular canal cardiomyocytes, with the prediction supported by motif enrichment analysis, including 10 TFs that have not been previously associated with cardiac development (eg, Etv5, Rbpms, and Baz2b). Furthermore, we found that TF targets in the OFT–atrioventricular canal modules were most significantly enriched with genes associated with mouse heart developmental abnormalities and human congenital heart defects, in comparison with TF targets in other modules, consistent with the critical developmental roles of OFT. Conclusions By analyzing gene co‐expression at single cardiomyocytes, our systematic study has uncovered many known and additional new important TFs and their regulated molecular signaling pathways that are spatiotemporally active during heart looping.

Phytolith-occluded carbon (PhytOC) can be preserved in soils or sediments for thousands of years and might be a promising potential mechanism for long-term terrestrial carbon (C) sequestration. As the principal pathway for the return of organic matters to soils, the forest litter layers make a considerable contribution to terrestrial C sequestration. Although previous studies have estimated the phytolith production fluxes in the above-ground vegetations of various terrestrial ecosystems, the storages of phytoliths and PhytOC in litter layers have not been thoroughly investigated, especially in forest ecosystems. Using analytical data of silica, phytoliths, return fluxes and storages of forest litter, this study estimated the phytolith and PhytOC storages in litter layers in different forest types in southern China. The results indicated that the total phytolith storage in forest litter layers in southern China was 24.34 ± 8.72 Tg. Among the different forest types, the phytolith storage in bamboo forest litter layers (15.40 ± 3.40 Tg) was much higher than that in other forests. At the same time, the total PhytOC storage reached up to 2.68 ± 0.96 Tg CO2 in forest litter layers in southern China, of which approximately 60% was contributed by bamboo forest litter layers. Based on the current litter turnover time of different forest types in southern China, a total of 1.01 ± 0.32 Tg of PhytOC per year would be released into soil profiles as a stable C pool during litter decomposition, which would make an important contribution to the global terrestrial long-term biogeochemical C sink. Therefore, the important role of PhytOC storage in forest litter layers should be taken into account in evaluating long-term forest C budgets.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have become the most commonly used adult stem cells in regenerative medicine. Preclinical studies have shown that MSCs-based therapy is a potential new treatment approach for neurological diseases. Intrathecal injection has unique feature which allows stem cells to directly migrate to the lesion site in patients with central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this study, we evaluate the safety and feasibility of intrathecal allogeneic bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) in patients with neurological diseases. This open-label clinical study included 37 patients (14 diseases). Eligible patients underwent a baseline assessment and were intrathecally injected with allogeneic BM-MSCs (1×106 cells/kg, 4 consecutive treatments at 1-week intervals). After four infusions, the patients were followed up for at least 6 months. Adverse events, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) test results, clinical symptoms, physical examination, and haematological and imaging examinations were used to assess the safety and feasibility of the treatment. Also, we performed a systematic review of the safety of all types of intrathecal stem cells and compared our result to previous studies. In our study, the highest adverse event was a slight ache at the injection site (4.11%), followed by fever (3.42%) and mild headache (2.05%). No severe adverse events were reported. After the intrathecal injections, the white blood cell (WBC) counts in the CSF increased in 30 patients and the protein concentration in the CSF exceeded the normal range in 26 patients, while other CSF indicators remained normal. Moreover, these patients had no suspected manifestations of CNS infection. Haematological and imaging examinations showed no abnormal changes after BM-MSCs infusion. Compared with previous studies, the incidence of adverse events was nearly consistent or even lower for headache, fever, nausea, and neck pain. In conclusion, repeated intrathecal allogeneic BM-MSCs are safe, feasible, and promising for the treatment of patients with neurological diseases.

Objectives. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with coronary artery calcification (CAC) which is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. Metformin is the first-line antidiabetic medication. We aimed to investigate the association between metformin use and CAC. Methods. We included 369 patients with T2DM in this cross-sectional study. CAC scores, clinical characteristics, and antidiabetic drug prescription information of the patients were acquired. Baseline parameters were balanced for metformin and nonmetformin users using the propensity score matching (PSM) strategy. Results. Among the 369 subjects who met our inclusion criteria, 288 subjects were included for further analysis after PSM. Metformin prescription rather than other antidiabetic medications was related to lower CAC scores (OR [95% CI] = 0.55 [0.34–0.90]; P=0.018). Further multivariable logistic regression analysis demonstrated that metformin was negatively associated with CAC severity (OR [95% CI] = 0.58 [0.34–0.99]; P=0.048), which was independent of age, BMI, eGFR, gender, cigarette smoking, duration of diabetes, hypertension, statin prescription, and number of nonmetformin antidiabetic agents. A subgroup analysis revealed a significant association between metformin and CAC scores in smokers (OR [95% CI] = 0.38 [0.16–0.93]; P=0.035), but the association was not observed in never-smokers (OR [95% CI] = 0.72 [0.34–1.51]; P=0.383). Conclusions. Metformin usage was independently associated with lower CAC scores in T2DM patients. The negative correlation between CAC scores and metformin was most prominent in patients with a history of cigarette smoking.

Coastal wetlands provide essential ecosystem services and are closely related to human welfare. However, they can experience substantial degradation, especially in regions in which there is intense human activity. To control these increasingly severe problems and to develop corresponding management policies in coastal wetlands, it is critical to accurately map coastal wetlands. Although remote sensing is the most efficient way to monitor coastal wetlands at a regional scale, it traditionally involves a large amount of work, high cost, and low spatial resolution when mapping coastal wetlands at a large scale. In this study, we developed a workflow for rapidly mapping coastal wetlands at a 10 m spatial resolution, based on the recently emergent Google Earth Engine platform, using a machine learning algorithm, open-access Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical images from the Sentinel satellites, and two terrain indices. We then generated a coastal wetland map of the Bohai Rim (BRCW10) based on the workflow. It has a producer accuracy of 82.7%, according to validation using 150 wetland samples. The BRCW10 data reflected finer information when compared to wetland maps derived from two sets of global high-spatial-resolution land cover data, due to the fusion of multiple data sources. The study highlights the benefits of simultaneously merging SAR and optical remote sensing images when mapping coastal wetlands.

Nano and microplastics (NPs/MPs) have received widespread attention in recent years. Because of their large specific surface area and hydrophobicity, NPs/MPs can adsorb various organic contaminants. This article gives a brief review of the sorption behavior of organic contaminants to NPs/MPs, summarizes the possible sorption mechanisms, and analyzes the influencing factors in the environment on the sorption behavior and mechanisms of NPs/MPs. The main mechanisms of sorption of organic contaminants to NPs/MPs are partitioning, surface sorption (hydrogen bonding, π–π interaction, electrostatic interaction, and van der Waals force), and pore filling. The sorption behavior of organic contaminants to NPs/MPs is not only affected by the properties of the NPs/MPs and the organic contaminants, but also by the solution chemistry, such as the pH, ionic strength, and dissolved organic matter.

Cathepsin B (CatB) is a cysteine proteolytic enzyme widely expressed in various cells and mainly located in the lysosomes. It contributes to the pathogenesis and development of many diseases. However, the role of CatB in viral myocarditis (VMC) has never been elucidated. Here we generated the VMC model by intraperitoneal injection of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) into mice. At day 7 and day 28, we found CatB was significantly activated in hearts from VMC mice. Compared with the wild-type mice receiving equal amount of CVB3, genetic ablation of CatB (Ctsb-/-) significantly improved survival, reduced inflammatory cell infiltration, decreased serum level of cardiac troponin I, and ameliorated cardiac dysfunction, without altering virus titers in hearts. Conversely, genetic deletion of cystatin C (Cstc-/-), which markedly enhanced CatB levels in hearts, distinctly increased the severity of VMC. Furthermore, compared with the control, we found the inflammasome was activated in the hearts of wild-type mice with VMC, which was attenuated in the hearts of Ctsb-/- mice but was further enhanced in Cstc-/- mice. Consistently, the inflammasome-initiated pyroptosis was reduced in Ctsb-/- mice hearts and further increased in Cstc-/- mice. These results suggest that CatB aggravates CVB3-induced VMC probably through activating the inflammasome and promoting pyroptosis. This finding might provide a novel strategy for VMC treatment.