Research Progress in Structure Evolution and Durability Modulation of Ir- and Ru-Based OER Catalysts under Acidic Conditions.

Green hydrogen energy, as one of the most promising energy carriers, plays a crucial role in addressing energy and environmental issues. Oxygen evolution reaction catalysts, as the key to water electrolysis hydrogen production technology, have been subject to durability constraints, preventing large-scale commercial development. Under the high current density and harsh acid-base electrolyte conditions of the water electrolysis reaction, the active metals in the catalysts are easily converted into high-valent soluble species to dissolve, leading to poor structural durability of the catalysts. There is an urgent need to overcome the durability challenges under acidic conditions and develop electrocatalysts with both high catalytic activity and high durability. In this review, the latest research results are analyzed in depth from both thermodynamic and kinetic perspectives. First, a comprehensive summary of the structural deactivation state process of noble metal oxide catalysts is presented. Second, the evolution of the structure of catalysts possessing high durability is discussed. Finally, four new strategies for the preparation of stable catalysts, "electron buffer (ECB) strategy", combination strength control, strain control, and surface coating, are summarized. The challenges and prospects are also elaborated for the future synthesis of more effective Ru/Ir-based catalysts and boost their future application.

Current strategies for monitoring and controlling bacterial biofilm formation on medical surfaces.

Biofilms, intricate microbial communities that attach to surfaces, especially medical devices, form an exopolysaccharide matrix, which enables bacteria to resist environmental pressures and conventional antimicrobial agents, leading to the emergence of multi-drug resistance. Biofilm-related infections associated with medical devices are a significant public health threat, compromising device performance. Therefore, developing effective methods for supervising and managing biofilm growth is imperative. This in-depth review presents a systematic overview of strategies for monitoring and controlling bacterial biofilms. We first outline the biofilm creation process and its regulatory mechanisms. The discussion then progresses to advancements in biosensors for biofilm detection and diverse treatment strategies. Lastly, this review examines the obstacles and new perspectives associated with this domain to facilitate the advancement of innovative monitoring and control solutions. These advancements are vital in combating the spread of multi drug-resistant bacteria and mitigating public health risks associated with infections from biofilm formation on medical instruments.

Alterations and associations between lung microbiota and metabolite profiles in silica-induced lung injury.

Silicosis, caused by silica exposure, is the most widespread and deadliest occupational disease. However, effective treatments are lacking. Therefore, it is crucial to elucidate the mechanisms and targets involved in the development of silicosis. We investigated the basic processes of silicosis development and onset at different exposure durations (2 or 4 weeks) using various techniques such as histopathology, immunohistochemistry, Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),16 S rRNA, and untargeted metabolomics.These results indicate that exposure to silica leads to progressive damage to lung tissue with significant deterioration observed over time. Time-dependent cytokines such as the IL-4, IL-13, and IL-6 are detected in lung lavage fluid, the model group consistently exhibited elevated levels of these cytokines, indicating a persistent and worsening inflammatory response in the lungs. Meanwhile, HE and Masson results show that 4-week exposure to silica causes more obvious lung injury and pulmonary fibrosis. Besides, the model group consistently exhibited a distinct lung bacterial population, known as the Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, regardless of exposure duration. However, with increasing exposure duration, specific temporal changes were observed in lung bacterial populations, including Haliangium, Allobaculum, and Sandaracinus (at 4 weeks; p < 0.05). Furthermore, our study revealed a strong correlation between the mechanism of silica-induced lung injury and three factors: oxidative stress, impaired lipid metabolism, and imbalanced amino acid metabolism. We observed a close correlation between cytokine levels, changes in lung microbiota, and metabolic disturbances during various exposure periods. These findings propose that a possible mechanism of silica-induced lung injury involves the interplay of cytokines, lung microbiota, and metabolites.

Clinicopathologic features and abnormal signaling pathways in plasmablastic lymphoma: a multicenter study in China.

BACKGROUND: Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is a rare but aggressive B-cell lymphoma subtype with poor prognosis. Knowledge about the etiology, clinicopathologic and molecular features, and outcomes of PBL is limited. This study aimed to examine the clinicopathologic characteristics, therapeutic approaches, and clinical outcomes of PBL patients in a Chinese population. METHODS: A total of 102 PBL patients were recruited from three cancer centers. The pathologic features and clinical outcomes of 56 patients with available treatment details and follow-up data were reviewed and analyzed. RNA sequencing was performed in 6 PBL and 11 diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. RESULTS: Most patients in our cohort were male (n = 36, 64.3%), and 35 patients presented with Ann Arbor stage I/II disease at diagnosis. All these patients showed negative findings for human immunodeficiency virus, and the vast majority of patients in our cohort were immunocompetent. Lymph nodes (n = 13, 23.2%) and gastrointestinal tract (n = 10, 17.9%) were the most commonly involved site at presentation. Post-treatment complete remission (CR) was the only prognostic factor affecting overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in the multivariate analysis. RNA-seq demonstrated that B-cell receptor (BCR), T-cell receptor (TCR), P53, calcium signaling, and Wnt signaling pathways were significantly downregulated in PBLs compared with GCB (or non-GCB) DLBCLs. CONCLUSIONS: In this multicenter study in the Chinese population, PBL mainly occurred in immunocompetent individuals and most patients present with early-stage disease at diagnosis. Post-treatment CR was an important prognostic factor affecting OS and PFS. RNA-seq showed that the B-cell receptor (BCR), P53, calcium signaling, cell adhesion molecules, and Wnt signaling pathways significantly differed between PBL and GCB (or non-GCB) DLBCL, which provided theoretical basis for its pathogenesis and future treatment.

Primary cutaneous adenoid cystic carcinoma: a clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and fluorescence in-situ hybridisation study of 13 cases.

AIMS: This study aimed to investigate the clinical, histological, immunohistochemical and chromosomal features of primary cutaneous adenoid cystic carcinoma (PCACC). METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analysed 13 cases identified on their clinicopathological features and performed fluorescence in-situ hybridisation (FISH) on six available cases. Head and neck (46.2%) were most commonly involved. The median age was 53 years, with a male predilection. Histologically, tumours were classified as grades 1 (eight), 2 (four) and 3 with high-grade transformation (HGT) (one). The HGT component was demonstrated as poorly differentiated carcinoma with multifocal necrosis and myoepithelial differentiation. Patients with one of the following factors: longest diameter of the lesion (≥ 1 cm), involvement of subcutaneous fat tissue and widely infiltrative border had a relatively higher rate of local recurrence, distant metastasis and death. Five of six cases were confirmed to have MYB translocation, while nuclear staining for MYB proto-oncogene, transcription factor (MYB) protein was found in four cases. During the follow-up (median = 64 months), two patients experienced local recurrences. One patient, who was classified as grade III PCACC with HGT, developed multiple metastases and died of disease. Another patient was alive with multiple metastases. CONCLUSIONS: This is the largest single-institution study, to our knowledge, of PCACC in an Asian population. We describe the first case of scalp PCACC with HGT, which is the only death case in our series. PCACC tends to recur locally and has metastatic potential. PCACC with HGT has a poor prognosis.

High Molecular Weight Poly(glutamic acid) to Improve BMP2-Induced Osteogenic Differentiation.

FDA-approved bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) has serious side effects due to the super high dose requirement. Heparin is one of the most well-studied sulfated polymers to stabilize BMP2 and improve its functionality. However, the clinical use of heparin is questionable because of its undesired anticoagulant activity. Recent studies suggest that poly(glutamic acid) (pGlu) has the potential to improve BMP2 bioactivity with less safety concerns; however, the knowledge on pGlu's contribution remains largely unknown. Therefore, we aimed to study the role of pGlu in BMP2-induced osteogenesis and its potential application in bone tissue engineering. Our data, for the first time, indicated that both low (L-pGlu) and high molecular weight pGlu (H-pGlu) were able to significantly improve the BMP2-induced early osteoblastic differentiation marker (ALP) in MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts. Importantly, the matrix mineralization was more rapidly enhanced by H-pGlu compared to L-pGlu. Additionally, our data indicated that only α-H-pGlu could significantly improve BMP2's activity, whereas γ-H-pGlu failed to do so. Moreover, both gene expression and mineralization data demonstrated that α-H-pGlu enabled a single dose of BMP2 to induce a high level of osteoblastic differentiation without multiple doses of BMP2. To study the potential application of pGlu in tissue engineering, we incorporated the H-pGlu+BMP2 nanocomplexes into the collagen hydrogel with significantly elevated osteoblastic differentiation. Furthermore, H-pGlu-coated 3D porous gelatin and chitosan scaffolds significantly enhanced osteogenic differentiation through enabling sustained release of BMP2. Thus, our findings suggest that H-pGlu is a promising new alternative with great potential for bone tissue engineering applications.

Development and assessment of machine learning models for predicting recurrence risk after endovascular treatment in patients with intracranial aneurysms.

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) remain a major public health concern and endovascular treatment (EVT) has become a major tool for managing IAs. However, the recurrence rate of IAs after EVT is relatively high, which may lead to the risk for aneurysm re-rupture and re-bleed. Thus, we aimed to develop and assess prediction models based on machine learning (ML) algorithms to predict recurrence risk among patients with IAs after EVT in 6 months. Patient population included patients with IAs after EVT between January 2016 and August 2019 in Hunan Provincial People's Hospital, and an adaptive synthetic (ADASYN) sampling approach was applied for the entire imbalanced dataset. We developed five ML models and assessed the models. In addition, we used SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) and local interpretable model-agnostic explanation (LIME) algorithms to determine the importance of the selected features and interpret the ML models. A total of 425 IAs were enrolled into this study, and 66 (15.5%) of which recurred in 6 months. Among the five ML models, gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT) model performed best. The area under curve (AUC) of the GBDT model on the testing set was 0.842 (sensitivity: 81.2%; specificity: 70.4%). Our study firstly demonstrated that ML-based models can serve as a reliable tool for predicting recurrence risk in patients with IAs after EVT in 6 months, and the GBDT model showed the optimal prediction performance.

Prediction study on the distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their halogenated derivatives in the atmospheric particulate phase.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their halogenated derivatives (X-PAHs), which generally produced from photochemical and thermal reactions of parent PAHs, widely exist in the environment. They are semi-volatile organic chemicals (SVOCs) and the partitioning between gas/particulate phases affects their environmental migration, transformation and fate, which further impacts their toxicity and health risk to human. However, there is a large data missing of the experimental distribution ratio in the atmospheric particulate phase (f), especially for X-PAHs. In this study, we first checked the correlation between experimental f values of 53 PAH derivatives and their octanol-air partitioning coefficients (log KOA), which is frequently used to characterize the distribution of chemicals in organic phase, and yielded R2 = 0.803. Then, quantum chemical descriptors derived from molecular structural optimization by M06-2X/6-311 +G (d,p) method were further employed to develop Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship (QSPR) model. The model contains two descriptors, the average molecular polarizability (α) and the equilibrium parameter of molecular electrostatic potential (τ), and yields better performance with R2 = 0.846 and RMSE = 0.122. The mechanism analysis and validation results by different strategies prove that the model can reveal the molecular properties that dominate the distribution between gas and particulate phases and it can be used to predict f values of other PAHs/X-PAHs, providing basic data for their environmental ecological risk assessment.

Ionic liquid-derived Fe, N, S, F multiple heteroatom-doped carbon materials for enhanced oxygen reduction reaction.

Heteroatoms doped carbon catalysts have been intensively studied to take the place of Platinum based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) because of their ideal catalytic activity. Herein, the microporous-mesoporous carbon material catalysts doped with Fe, N, S and F were synthesized through a plain one-pot pyrolysis method with ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methyli-midazolium bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)imide ([Bmim][TF2N]) and melamine as precursors. Electrochemical analysis shows that the ORR activity and stability of the obtained catalysts are obviously better than Pt/C under alkaline condition. Meanwhile, the catalysts show similar ORR activity and much better durability in 0.1 M HClO4comparing to Pt/C. Moreover, the tolerance of methanol in both basic and acid solutions is greatly better than Pt/C. The high activity is ascribed to the large specific surface area, porous structure and the synergistic effect between S, F, pyridine N, graphite N and Fe-Nx. The high stability possibly comes from the appropriate graphitization and the carbon-coating effect. The strategy proposed here has the advantages of facile, low cost, high efficiency and easy large-scale production, which provides new ideas for the preparation of high-performance Fe-N-C electrocatalysts.

A NAC nomogram to predict the probability of three-month unfavorable outcome in Chinese acute ischemic stroke patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is a standard care for most acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. For AIS patients underwent MT, predicting the patients at high risk of unfavorable outcome and adjusting therapeutic strategies accordingly can greatly improve patient outcomes. We aimed to develop and validate a nomogram for individualized prediction of Chinese AIS patients underwent MT. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter prospective study including 238 AIS patients who underwent MT from January 2014 to December 2018. The main outcome measure was three-month unfavorable outcome (modified Rankin Scale 3-6). A nomogram was generated based on multivariate logistic model. We assessed the discriminative performance by using the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve and calibration of risk prediction model by using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test. RESULTS: In NAC nomogram, NIHSS (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) score on admission (OR: 1.193, p < 0.0001), Age (OR: 1.025, p = 0.037) and Creatinine (OR: 1.028, p < 0.0001) remained independent predictors of 3-month unfavorable outcome in Chinese AIS patients treated with MT. The NAC nomogram exhibited an area under the curve of 0.816 for predicting functional impairment. Calibration was good (p = 0.560 for the Hosmer-Lemeshow test). CONCLUSIONS: The NAC nomogram is the first nomogram developed and validated in Chinese AIS patients treated with MT and it may be used to predict 3 months unfavorable outcome for these patients.

Graphene-based fluorometric determination of agrD gene transcription in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus using exonuclease III-aided target recycling and DNA walker cascade amplification.

A graphene-based bioassay is described for the fluorometric determination of agrD gene transcription (mRNA) in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This method includes exonuclease III (Exo III)-assisted target recycling and DNA walker cascade amplification. Hairpin1 (HP1) consists of a capture probe (CP) and DNA walker sequence. In the absence of the target, 5'-amino modified hairpin2 (HP2) labeled with carboxyfluorescein (FAM) at its 3' terminus is covalently linked to graphene via 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide (EDC/NHS) catalysis, resulting in the quenching of the FAM signal. The stem-loop structure of HP1 opens when the target is added to form partially complementary DNA/RNA hybrids. Exo III then initiates the target recycling process by cleaving the CP and DNA walker cascade reaction by automatic walking. This iterative reaction causes the FAM to dissociate from the graphene, and the fluorescence can be measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 480/514 nm. Therefore, the target can be assayed by fluorescence. This method has a linear relationship with the concentration of target within the range 1 fM to 100 pM with a detection limit of 1 fM. The developed bioassay was used to monitor biofilm formation and investigate the mechanism of drug action with satisfactory results. Schematic representation of the graphene-based fluorescent bioassay for agrD gene transcription in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by using exonuclease III-aided target recycling and DNA walker cascade amplification.

Multi-Excitation Infrared Fusion for Impact Evaluation of Aluminium-BFRP/GFRP Hybrid Composites.

Fibre metal laminates are widely implemented in the aerospace industry owing to the merits of fatigue resistance and plastic properties. An effective defect assessment technique needs to be investigated for this type of composite materials. In order to achieve accurate impact-induced damage evaluation, a multi-excitation infrared fusion method is introduced in this study. Optical excitation thermography with high performance on revealing surface and subsurface defects is combined with vibro-thermography to improve the capability of detection on defects. Quantitative analysis is carried out on the temperature curve to assess the impact-induced deformation. A new image fusion framework including feature extraction, feature selection and fusion steps is proposed to fully utilize the information from two excitation modalities. Six fibre metal laminates which contain aluminium-basalt fibre reinforced plastic and aluminium-glass fibre reinforced plastic are investigated. Features from different perspectives are compared and selected via intensity contrast on deformation area for fusion imaging. Both types of defects (i.e., surface and sub-surface) and the internal deformation situation of these six samples are characterized clearly and intuitively.

Interface Modulation of MoS2 /Metal Oxide Heterostructures for Efficient Hydrogen Evolution Electrocatalysis.

Developing efficient earth-abundant MoS2 based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) electrocatalysts is important but challenging due to the sluggish kinetics in alkaline media. Herein, a strategy to fabricate a high-performance MoS2 based HER electrocatalyst by modulating interface electronic structure via metal oxides is developed. All the heterostructure catalysts present significant improvement of HER electrocatalytic activities, demonstrating a positive role of metal oxides decoration in promoting the rate-limited water dissociation step for the HER mechanism in alkaline media. The as-obtained MoS2 /Ni2 O3 H catalyst exhibits a low overpotential of 84 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and small charge-transfer resistance of 1.5 Ω in 1 m KOH solution. The current density (217 mA cm-2 ) at the overpotential of 200 mV is about 2 and 24 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C and bare MoS2 , respectively. Additionally, these MoS2 /metal oxides heterostructure catalysts show outstanding long-term stability under a harsh chronopotentiometry test. Theoretical calculations reveal the varied sensitivity of 3d-band in different transition oxides, in which Ni-3d of Ni2 O3 H is evidently activated to achieve fast electron transfer for HER as the electron-depletion center. Both electronic properties and energetic reaction trends confirm the high electroactivity of MoS2 /Ni2 O3 H in the adsorption and dissociation of H2 O for highly efficient HER in alkaline media.

Nevus cell aggregates massively occupying parenchyma of an external iliac lymph node: A case report and review of the literature.

We report a case of nevus cell aggregates (NCAs) in an external iliac lymph node from a patient with a compound congenital nevus in the corresponding drainage skin. Melanocytes in parenchyma were in band, nest-like or nodular fashion, and partly continuous with those in capsule and trabeculae. The largest nodule in parenchyma measured 6.5 mm. Melanocytes mostly exhibited benign appearance identical to cutaneous nevus. A few regions abundant in cells displayed atypical features, including increased nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio, small nucleoli, and occasional mitotic figures. Immunohistochemistry showed that melanocytes stained positive for p16, but negative for HMB-45 and nestin. Ki-67 labeling was less than 1% and reticulin mainly surrounded individual melanocytes. Besides, Vysis melanoma fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) plus another 2 probes targeting 9p21(CDKN2A) and 8q24(MYC) showed normal results. The patient is alive without malignant tumor after 52-month follow up. Our case provides a new evidence for the existence of intraparenchymal NCAs in deep lymph node and indicates that melanocytes with some atypical features can occur in nodal nevi. Nevus cells in parenchyma connected to those in capsule and trabeculae are a significant clue to distinguish nodal nevi from metastatic melanomas. Additionally, immunohistochemistry and FISH assay are useful in differential diagnosis.

Fluorometric determination of agrA gene transcription in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with a graphene oxide-based assay using strand-displacement polymerization recycling and hybridization chain reaction.

A graphene oxide (GO)-based fluorescent bioassay was developed to quantify agrA gene transcription (its mRNA) in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). This method is based on the use of Klenow fragment (KF)-assisted target recycling amplification and hybridization chain reaction (HCR). A triple complex was designed that contained a capture probe (CP), a trigger probe (TP), and a help probe (HP), which were partially complementary to one another. In the absence of the target, all the oligonucleotides labeled with carboxyfluorescein (FAM) are adsorbed onto the surface of GO by π-stacking interactions. This adsorption quenches the FAM signal. On the contrary, the target RNA causes the triple complex to disintegrate and initiates strand-displacement polymerization reaction (SDPR) and HCR in the presence of the appropriate raw materials, including the primer, KF, dNTPs, hairpin 1 (H1), and hairpin 2 (H2), generating double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) products. These dsDNA products are repelled by GO and produce strong fluorescence, measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 480/514 nm. The fluorescent signal is greatly amplified by SYBR Green I (SGI) due to the synergistic effect of dsDNA-SGI. The target was assayed with this method at concentrations in the range 10 fM to 100 pM, and the detection limit (LOD) was 10 fM. This method also displayed good applicability in the analysis of real samples. It provides a new way of monitoring biofilm formation and studying the mechanisms of drug actions. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of the graphene oxide-based fluorescent bioassay for agrA gene transcription in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by using strand-displacement polymerization recycling and hybridization chain reaction.

Enhanced Infrared Sparse Pattern Extraction and Usage for Impact Evaluation of Basalt-Carbon Hybrid Composites by Pulsed Thermography.

Nowadays, infrared thermography, as a widely used non-destructive testing method, is increasingly studied for impact evaluation of composite structures. Sparse pattern extraction is attracting increasing attention as an advanced post-processing method. In this paper, an enhanced sparse pattern extraction framework is presented for thermographic sequence processing and defect detection. This framework adapts cropping operator and typical component extraction as a preprocessing step to reduce the dimensions of raw data and applies sparse pattern extraction algorithms to enhance the contrast on the defect area. Different cases are studied involving several defects in four basalt-carbon hybrid fiber-reinforced polymer composite laminates. Finally, comparative analysis with intensity distribution is carried out to verify the effectiveness of contrast enhancement using this framework.

Fluorometric determination of mercury(II) via a graphene oxide-based assay using exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification and thymidine-Hg(II)-thymidine interaction.

A highly sensitive and selective fluorometric method is described for determination of mercury(II). It is based on (a) the use of graphene oxide (GO) acting as a quencher of the fluoresence of the carboxy-fluorescein (FAM), and (b) of Hg(II)-triggered cleavage of the newly formed nucleic acid sequences harbored blunt 3'-hydroxyl termini by exonuclease III (Exo III) that leads to signal amplification. Two DNA probes are used, viz. a capture probe (CP) and a help probe; HP) that is partially complementary. In the absence of Hg(II), the FAM-labeled hairpin (signal probe, SP) is adsorbed onto the surface of GO via π-stacking interactions. CP blocks the release of the HP for binding to SP. This results in quenching of the green fluorescence of the label. Upon addition of Hg(II), the linear structure of CP is converted to a hairpin structure due to the formation of thymidine-Hg(II)-thymidine duplexes. HP is released from the CP/HP hybrids, and this causes SP to be released from from GO and fluorescence to be recovered. The signal is strongly amplified by using Exo III-assisted targeting and recycling of HP. Hence, Hg(II) can be detected via the strong increase in fluorescence. The method has a linear response in the 0.1 to 30 nM Hg(II) concentration range and a 10 pM detection limit. It was applied to the determination of Hg(II) in three (spiked) Chinese medicines. Graphical abstract Schematic representation of fluorescence sensing strategy for Hg2+ by using graphene oxide as a quencher and exonuclease III-assisted signal amplification.

Transcriptional repressor Blimp1 regulates follicular regulatory T-cell homeostasis and function.

The B-lymphocyte-induced maturation protein 1 (Blimp1) regulates T-cell homeostasis and function. Loss of Blimp1 could double the proportion of follicular regulatory T (Tfr) cells. However, the effects that Blimp1 may have on the function of Tfr cells remain unknown. Here we document the function for Blimp1 in Tfr cells in vitro and in vivo. Data presented in this study demonstrate that Tfr cells indirectly inhibit the activation and differentiation of B cells by negatively regulating follicular helper T cells, so lowering the secretion of antibody. Lack of Blimp1 makes the immune suppression function of Tfr cells impaired in vitro. In the in vivo study, adoptive transfer of Tfr cells could reduce immune responses in germinal centres and relieve the muscle weakness symptoms of mice with experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis. Blimp1 deficiency resulted in reduced suppressive ability of Tfr cells. This study identifies that Tfr cells are potent suppressors of immunity and are controlled by Blimp1.

Local Delivery of ß-Elemene Improves Locomotor Functional Recovery by Alleviating Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Reducing Neuronal Apoptosis in Rats with Spinal Cord Injury.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a serious global problem that leads to permanent motor and sensory deficits. This study explores the anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective effects of the natural extract ß-elemene in vitro and in a rat model of SCI. METHODS: CCK-8 assay was used to evaluate cell viability and lactate dehydrogenase assay was used to evaluate cytotoxicity. A model of cell injury was established using cobalt chloride. Apoptosis was evaluated using a fluorescence-activated cell sorting assay of annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide staining. A rat SCI model was created via the modified Allen's method and Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) scores were used to assess locomotor function. Inflammatory responses were assessed via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Apoptotic and surviving neurons in the ventral horn were respectively observed via terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining and Nissl staining. Western blotting was used to measure protein expression. RESULTS: ß-elemene (20 µg/ml) promoted cell viability by activating phosphorylation of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. ß-elemene reduced CoCl2-induced cellular death and apoptosis by suppressing the expression levels of CHOP, cleaved-caspase 12, 78-kilodalton glucose-regulated protein, cleaved-caspase 3, and the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio. In the rat model of SCI, Nissl and TUNEL staining showed that ß-elemene promoted motor neuron survival and reduced neuronal apoptosis in the spinal cord ventral horn. BBB scores showed that ß-elemene significantly promoted locomotor behavioral recovery after SCI. In addition, ß-elemene reduced the ELISA-detected secretion of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-1ß. CONCLUSION: ß-elemene reduces neuronal apoptosis by alleviating endoplasmic reticulum stress in vitro and in vivo. In addition, ß-elemene promotes locomotor function recovery and tissue repair in SCI rats. Thus, our study provides a novel encouraging strategy for the potential treatment of ß-elemene in SCI patients.

Graphene oxide-based fluorometric determination of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus by using target-triggered chain reaction and deoxyribonuclease-assisted recycling.

The authors describe a method for the fluorometric determination of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by exploiting target-triggered chain reactions and deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I)-aided target recycling. It is making use of a carboxy-fluorescein (FAM)-labeled single-stranded probe containing two sections. One is complementary to the 5' terminus of the target, while the 3' terminus of the other target is adsorbed on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) via π-stacking interactions without the target (16S rRNA). This adsorption results in quenching of the fluorescence of the label and protects it from being cleaved by DNase I. However, upon addition of the target, DNA/RNA hybrids are repelled by GO. This leads to fluorescence recovery as measured at excitation/emission wavelengths of 480/514 nm due to a chain reaction that is triggered by the target. The signal is strongly amplified by using DNase I-mediated target recycling. The 16S rRNA of MRSA can be detected by this method in the 1 to 30 nM concentration range, and the detection limit is 0.02 nM. The method was applied to analyze bacterial samples, and the detection limit is as low as 30 CFU . mL-1. The assay is highly sensitive and selective and in our percpetion has a large potential in diagnosis of drug-resistant bacteria. Graphical abstract Schematic of the graphene oxide-based fluorescent bioassay for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus detection by using target-triggered chain reaction and deoxyribonuclease I-aided signal amplification.