Evaluating eight indicators for identifying metabolic syndrome in Chinese and American adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Early intervention and diagnosis of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) are crucial for preventing adult cardiovascular disease. However, the optimal indicator for identifying MetS in adolescent remains controversial. METHODS: In total,1408 Chinese adolescents and 3550 American adolescents aged 12-17 years were included. MetS was defined according to the modified version for adolescents based on Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria. Areas under the curve (AUC) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of 8 anthropometric/metabolic indexes, such as waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI), a body shape index (ABSI), waist triglyceride index (WTI), were calculated to illustrate their ability to differentiate MetS. Sensitivity analysis using the other MetS criteria was performed. RESULTS: Under the modified NCEP-ATP III criteria, WTI had the best discriminating ability in overall adolescents, with AUC of 0.922 (95% CI: 0.900-0.945) in Chinese and 0.959 (95% CI: 0.949-0.969) in American. In contrast, ABSI had the lowest AUCs. Results of sensitivity analysis were generally consistent for the whole Chinese and American population, with the AUC for WC being the highest under some criteria, but it was not statistically different from that of WTI. CONCLUSIONS: WTI had relatively high discriminatory power for MetS detection in Chinese and American adolescents, but the performance of ABSI was poor. IMPACT: While many studies have compared the discriminatory power of some anthropometric indicators for MetS, there are few focused on pediatrics. The current study is the first to compare the discriminating ability of anthropometric/metabolic indicators (WC, BMI, TMI, ABSI, WHtR, VAI, WTI, and TyG) for MetS in adolescents. WTI remains the optimal indicator in screening for MetS in adolescents. WC was also a simple and reliable indicator when screening for MetS in adolescents, but the performance of ABSI was poor. This study provides a theoretical basis for the early identification of MetS in adolescents by adopting effective indicators.

Maternal Preconception Serum Alanine Aminotransferase Levels and Risk of Preterm Birth among Reproductive-Aged Women - China, 2013-2017.

What is already known about this topic?: The significance of maternal liver health concerning preterm birth (PTB) is well recognized; however, there is a gap in understanding the precise influence of preconception serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels on the risk of PTB. What is added by this report?: In this retrospective cohort study, a J-shaped relationship between preconception serum ALT levels and risk of PTB was observed, indicating that both significantly elevated and decreased ALT levels may contribute to the risk. What are the implications for public health practice?: Maintaining optimal preconception serum ALT levels may reduce the risk of PTB, thereby informing specific preventive measures for women of reproductive age.

Characterization of SgALMT genes reveals the function of SgALMT2 in conferring aluminum tolerance in Stylosanthes guianensis through the mediation of malate exudation.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the major constraint on plant growth and productivity in acidic soils. An adaptive mechanism to enhance Al tolerance in plants is mediated malate exudation from roots through the involvement of ALMT (Al-activated malate transporter) channels. The underlying Al tolerance mechanisms of stylo (Stylosanthes guianensis), an important tropical legume that exhibits superior Al tolerance, remain largely unknown, and knowledge of the potential contribution of ALMT genes to Al detoxification in stylo is limited. In this study, stylo root growth was inhibited by Al toxicity, accompanied by increases in malate and citrate exudation from roots. A total of 11 ALMT genes were subsequently identified in the stylo genome and named SgALMT1 to SgALMT11. Diverse responses to metal stresses were observed for these SgALMT genes in stylo roots. Among them, the expressions of 6 out of the 11 SgALMTs were upregulated by Al toxicity. SgALMT2, a root-specific and Al-activated gene, was selected for functional characterization. Subcellular localization analysis revealed that the SgALMT2 protein is localized to the plasma membrane. The function of SgALMT2 in mediating malate release was confirmed by analysis of the malate exudation rate from transgenic composite stylo plants overexpressing SgALMT2. Furthermore, overexpression of SgALMT2 led to increased root growth in transgenic stylo plants treated with Al through decreased Al accumulation in roots. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that malate secretion mediated by SgALMT2 contributes to the ability of stylo to cope with Al toxicity.

In vitro and in vivo anti-inflammatory properties of an active fucoidan fraction from Sargassum fusiforme and a fraction-based hydrogel.

In a previous study, we separated an active fucoidan (JHCF4) from acid-processed Sargassum fusiforme, then analyzed and confirmed its structure. In the present study, we investigated the potential anti-inflammatory properties of JHCF4 and a JHCF4-based hydrogel in vitro and in vivo. JHCF4 reliably inhibited nitric oxide (NO) production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages, with an IC50 of 22.35 µg/ml. Furthermore, JHCF4 attenuated the secretion of prostaglandin E2, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1ß, and IL-6, indicating that JHCF4 regulates inflammatory reactions. In addition, JHCF4 downregulated iNOS and COX-2 and inhibited the activation of the MAPK pathway. According to further in vivo analyses, JHCF4 significantly reduced the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), NO production, and cell death in an LPS-induced zebrafish model, suggesting that JHCF4 exhibits anti-inflammatory effects. Additionally, a JHCF4-based hydrogel was developed, and its properties were evaluated. The hydrogel significantly decreased inflammatory and nociceptive responses in carrageenan (carr)-induced mouse paws by reducing the increase in paw thickness and decreasing neutrophil infiltration in the basal and subcutaneous layers of the toe epidermis. These results indicate that JHCF4 exhibits potential anti-inflammatory activity in vitro and in vivo and that JHCF4-based hydrogels have application prospects in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical fields.

Electroacupuncture at ST25 corrected gut microbial dysbiosis and SNpc lipid peroxidation in Parkinson's disease rats.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) remains one kind of a complex, progressive neurodegenerative disease. Levodopa and dopamine agonists as widely utilized PD therapeutics have not shown significant positive long-term outcomes. Emerging evidences indicate that electroacupuncture (EA) have potential effects on the therapy of nervous system disorders, particularly PD, but its specific underlying mechanism(s) remains poorly understood, leading to the great challenge of clinical application and management. Previous study has shown that acupuncture ameliorates PD motor symptoms and dopaminergic neuron damage by modulating intestinal dysbiosis, but its intermediate pathway has not been sufficiently investigated. Methods: A rat model of PD was induced using rotenone. The therapeutic effect of EA on PD was assessed using the pole and rotarod tests and immunohistostaining for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the substantia nigra (SN) of brain. The role of gut microbiota was explored using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabonomic analysis. PICRUSt2 analysis, lipidomic analysis, LPS and inflammatory factor assays were used for subsequent exploration and validation. Correlation analysis was used to identify the key bacteria that EA regulates lipid metabolism to improve PD. Results: The present study firstly reappeared the effects of EA on protecting motor function and dopaminergic neurons and modulation of gut microbial dysbiosis in rotenone-induced PD rat model. EA improved motor dysfunction (via the pole and rotarod tests) and protected TH+ neurons in PD rats. EA increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus, Dubosiella and Bifidobacterium and decreased the abundance of Escherichia-Shigella and Morganella belonging to Pseudomonadota, suggesting that the modulation of gut microbiota by EA improving the symptoms of PD motility via alleviating LPS-induced inflammatory response and oxidative stress, which was also validated by various aspects such as microbial gene functional analysis, fecal metabolomics analysis, LPS and inflammatory factor assays and SNpc lipidomics analysis. Moreover, correlation analyses also verified strong correlations of Escherichia-Shigella and Morganella with motor symptoms and SNpc lipid peroxidation, explicating targets and intermediate pathways through which EA improve PD exercise symptom. Conclusion: Our results indicate that the improvement of motor function in PD model by EA may be mediated in part by restoring the gut microbiota, which intermediate processes involve circulating endotoxins and inflammatory mediators, SNpc oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. The gut-microbiome - brain axis may be a potential mechanism of EA treatment for the PD.

Tribo-charge enhanced and cellulose based biodegradable nanofibrous membranes with highly fluffy structure for air filtration and self-powered respiration monitoring systems.

Recently, the demand for healthcare products especially wearable smart masks is increasing. The biosafety and degradability of smart masks are crucial for human health and environmental protection. However, the development of biodegradable and biocompatible fibrous membranes with high filtration efficiency and low pressure drop is still a challenge. How to realize the collaborative improvement between air filtration efficiency and pressure drop of the nanofibrous membrane is still a challenge. Here, a tribo-charge enhanced and biodegradable nanofibrous membranes (TCB NFMs) with highly fluffy structure for air filtration and self-powered respiration monitoring systems is reported for the first time. The filtration efficiency and pressure drop of the prepared membranes for 0.3 µm NaCl particulates is 99.971% and 41.67 Pa. The TCB NFMs based smart mask possesses a series of satisfactory and excellent characteristics, such as self-powered, biodegradable, biocompatible, high filtration efficiency, and low pressure drop, which is highly promising for application in air filtration systems and intelligent wearable respiration monitoring systems.

Security-oriented steganographic payload allocation for multi-remote sensing images.

Multi-image steganography, a technique for concealing information within multiple carrier mediums, finds remote sensing images to be particularly apt carriers due to their complex structures and abundant texture data. These characteristics bolster the resilience against steganalysis and enhance steganographic capacity. The efficacy of multi-image steganography hinges on the diplomatic strategy of cover selection and the meticulous allocation of the payload. Nevertheless, the majority of current methods, which are empirically formulated, predominantly focus on the texture complexity of individual images, thereby potentially undermining overall security. This paper introduces a security-oriented approach to steganographic payload allocation for multiple remote sensing images aimed at fortifying the security of multi-image steganography. Our primary contributions include employing a steganalysis pre-trained network to quantify texture complexity in remote sensing cover images, directly correlating it with security. Additionally, we have developed an adaptive payload allocation strategy for multiple images, which embeds a payload proximate to each image's maximal steganographic capacity while concurrently ensuring the security of the embedding process. Experimental results corroborate that our methodology excels in cover selection and payload allocation and achieves better undetectability against modern steganalysis tools.

Hydroxylation of Aryl Sulfonium Salts for Phenol Synthesis under Mild Reaction Conditions.

Hydroxylation of aryl sulfonium salts could be realized by utilizing acetohydroxamic acid and oxime as hydroxylative agents in the presence of cesium carbonate as a base, leading to a variety of structurally diverse hydroxylated arenes in 47-95% yields. In addition, the reaction exhibited broad functionality tolerance, and a range of important functional groups (e.g., cyano, nitro, sulfonyl, formyl, keto, and ester) could be well amenable to the mild reaction conditions.

Response mechanism of non-biodegradable polyethylene terephthalate microplastics and biodegradable polylactic acid microplastics to nitrogen removal in activated sludge system.

The issue of microplastics (MPs) has gained more attention among researchers and the public; however, there is still a lot to be studied about its impact on biological wastewater treatment. In this study, the effects of non-biodegradable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) on wastewater treatment by sequencing batch reactor (SBR) were compared. The results showed that PET and PLA reduced the removal efficiency of NH4+-N by 1.7 % and 21.2 %, respectively. Structural equation functional model (SEM) analysis was used to infer the potential mechanism of PLA affecting ammonia oxidation. PLA primarily inhibits the activity of ammonia monooxygenase (AMO), while promoting an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzyme activity. Accordingly, the toxic effect of PLA further reduced the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. This study showed that biodegradable MPs have a greater potential impact on wastewater treatment than non-biodegradable MPs, which warrants further investigation.

The Function of Circular RNAs in Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury: Underlying Mechanisms and Therapeutic Advancement.

Myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) represents a prevalent and severe cardiovascular condition that arises primarily after myocardial infarction recanalization, cardiopulmonary bypass surgery, and both stable and unstable angina pectoris. MIRI can induce malignant arrhythmias and heart failure, thereby increasing the morbidity and mortality rates associated with cardiovascular diseases. Hence, it is important to assess the potential pathological mechanisms of MIRI and develop effective treatments. The role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in MIRI has increasingly become a topic of interest in recent years. Moreover, significant evidence suggests that circRNAs play a critical role in MIRI pathogenesis, thereby representing a promising therapeutic target. This review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the role of circRNAs in MIRI and discuss the mechanisms through which circRNAs contribute to MIRI development and progression, including their effects on apoptosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, and autophagy. Furthermore, the potential therapeutic applications of circRNAs in MIRI treatment, including the use of circRNA-based therapies and modulation of circRNA expression levels, have been explored. Overall, this paper highlights the importance of circRNAs in MIRI and underscores their potential as novel therapeutic targets.

NMDA Receptor Modulation in COVID-19-Associated Acute Respiratory Syndrome in both In Silico and In Vitro Approach.

The normal function of the N-methyl D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR) in human lungs depends on precisely regulated synaptic glutamate levels. Pathophysiology of the lungs is brought on by the changes in homeostasis of glutamate in the synapsis that leads to abnormal NMDAR activity. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) primarily results in lung infections, particularly lung muscle stiffening, and NMDA receptor potentiation may increase calcium ion influx and support downstream signaling mechanisms. Hence, NMDAR modulators that depend on glutamate levels could be therapeutically useful medications with fewer unintended side effects. A compound called THP (tetrahydropalmatine) that amplifies Ca2+ influx and potentiates NMDA receptors has been identified in the current study. In asthmatic human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells, THP regulates the NMDA receptor and helps in asthmatic ASM contraction, and the pharmacological stimulation of ASM depends on both brain and respiratory NMDA receptors. Glutamate potency is altered by this substance without any voltage-dependent side effects. Additionally, a GGPP (geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate)-dependent mechanism of THP reduced the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in ASM. THP is distinctive in terms of its chemical makeup, functioning, and agonist concentration-dependent and allosteric modulatory activity. To treat COVID-19-related SARS, THP, or any future-related compounds will make good drug-like molecule candidates.

Washed microbiota transplantation improves renal function in patients with renal dysfunction: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Changes in the gut microbiota composition is a hallmark of chronic kidney disease (CKD), and interventions targeting the gut microbiota present a potent approach for CKD treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of washed microbiota transplantation (WMT), a modified faecal microbiota transplantation method, on the renal activity of patients with renal dysfunction. METHODS: A comparative analysis of gut microbiota profiles was conducted in patients with renal dysfunction and healthy controls. Furthermore, the efficacy of WMT on renal parameters in patients with renal dysfunction was evaluated, and the changes in gut microbiota and urinary metabolites after WMT treatment were analysed. RESULTS: Principal coordinate analysis revealed a significant difference in microbial community structure between patients with renal dysfunction and healthy controls (P = 0.01). Patients with renal dysfunction who underwent WMT exhibited significant improvement in serum creatinine, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and blood urea nitrogen (all P < 0.05) compared with those who did not undergo WMT. The incidence of adverse events associated with WMT treatment was low (2.91%). After WMT, the Shannon index of gut microbiota and the abundance of several probiotic bacteria significantly increased in patients with renal dysfunction, aligning their gut microbiome profiles more closely with those of healthy donors (all P < 0.05). Additionally, the urine of patients after WMT demonstrated relatively higher levels of three toxic metabolites, namely hippuric acid, cinnamoylglycine, and indole (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: WMT is a safe and effective method for improving renal function in patients with renal dysfunction by modulating the gut microbiota and promoting toxic metabolite excretion.

Declined prevalence, improved awareness and control of hypertension are associated with spousal educational attainment: A mega-data study.

Cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, have posed a serious threat to human health in recent decades. Family-centered health promotion and disease control for the management of hypertension is gaining attention. In this study, we assessed the association between spousal educational attainment (SEA) and hypertension prevalence, awareness, and control, intending to provide new directions for family health care. A total of 71 211 191 reproductive-aged participants from the National Free NFPCP during 2013-2019 were included in the current study. Inverse probability weighting (IPW) via propensity models were used to adjust for the imbalance by SEA. Both multivariable-adjusted ORs and inverse-probability-weighted ORs were used to assess the association between SEA and the prevalence, awareness, and control of hypertension. ORs of prevalence, awareness, and control of hypertension with SEA stratified by sex, age, and residency type were also reported. Compared with participants with SEA of compulsory education, the inverse-probability-weighted ORs for hypertension were 0.97 (0.96-0.97), 0.99 (0.98-1.00), and 0.91 (0.88-0.93) for participants with SEA of senior high, college, and postgraduate, respectively. The corresponding ORs for hypertension awareness were 1.12 (1.10-1.13), 1.15 (1.13-1.16), and 1.38 (1.34-1.41). The increment of hypertension control associated with SEA was only identified in urban areas. Modification analyses revealed that urban participants were observed to have more healthy benefits associated with SEA; additional decreased prevalent hypertension and increased hypertension awareness associated with SEA were observed in wives and husbands respectively. Thus, SEA was associated with decreased prevalent hypertension and increased awareness and control of hypertension. Our findings call for increased participation of spouses in family-centered healthcare, with consideration of modified effects by gender, age, and residency type, to improve chronic disease prevention and control including hypertension.

Molecular properties, structure, neurotrophic and anti-inflammatory activities of cultured secondary metabolites from the cultures of the mushroom Cyathus striatus CBPFE A06.

Two previously undescribed natural cyathane diterpenoids Me-dentifragilin A (1) and Epi-neocyathin O (2), and three known cyathane diterpenoids 3-5, cyathin O, neocyathin P, and cyathin I, were isolated from the rice medium of the Cyathus striatus CBPFE A06. Their structures were established by NMR spectra, and HR-ESI-MS. Compounds 1-5 displayed encouraging neurotrophic activity in PC-12 cells at doses of 5 µM. Meanwhile, 1-5 significantly inhibited LPS-induced NO generation in BV2 cells with the IC50 values ranging from 2.44 ± 0.16 to 4.33 ± 0.32 µM. Western blot analysis showed that 2 and 4 inhibited the expression of genes involved in nitric oxide (NO) production. Molecular docking revealed that five residues of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) are key residues affecting the interaction of 2 and 4 with iNOS. This study enriches the structural diversity of cyathane diterpenes and adds to the evidence that cyathane diterpenes prevent and treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Washed Microbiota Transplantation Improves Patients with Overweight by the Gut Microbiota and Sphingolipid Metabolism.

BACKGROUND: Overweight (OW) and obesity have become increasingly serious public health problems worldwide. The clinical impact of washed microbiota transplantation (WMT) from healthy donors in OW patients is unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of WMT in OW patients. METHODS: The changes in body mass index (BMI = weight (kg)/height (m)2), blood glucose, blood lipids and other indicators before and after WMT were compared. At the same time, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was performed on fecal samples of OW patients before and after transplantation. Finally, serum samples were tested for sphingolipids targeted by lipid metabolomics. RESULTS: A total of 166 patients were included, including 52 in the OW group and 114 in the normal weight (NOW) group. For OW patients, WMT significantly improved the comprehensive efficacy of OW. In the short term (about 1 month) and medium term (about 2 months), a significant reduction in BMI was seen. At the same time, in the short term (about 1 month), liver fat attenuation (LFA), triglyceride (TG) and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were significantly reduced. In the long term (about 5 months), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), non-high-density lipoprotein (non-HDL-c), etc. were significantly reduced. WMT improved the gut microbiota of OW patients, and also had an improvement effect on OW patients by regulating sphingolipid metabolism. CONCLUSION: WMT had a significant improvement effect on OW patients. WMT could restore gut microbiota homeostasis and improve OW patients by regulating sphingolipid metabolism.

Construction and application of a mCherry fluorescent labeling system for Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from aerobic granular sludge.

To elucidate the specific mechanism by which high-attachment bacteria promote aerobic granular sludge (AGS) formation, a red fluorescent protein mCherry-based biomarker system was developed in the high-attachment strain Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from AGS. The fluorescent labeling system used plasmid-mediated mCherry expression driven by a Ptac constitutive promoter. mCherry-labeled AGS-1 had normal unimpaired growth, strong fluorescent signals, and good fluorescence imaging. Also, the mCherry labeling system had no effect on the attachment ability of AGS-1. In addition, mCherry-labeled AGS-1 maintained high plasmid stability, even after more than 100 generations. Notably, after the addition of mCherry-labeled AGS-1 into the activated sludge system, the mCherry fluorescence of the sludge system can be used as a good reflection of the relative amount of AGS-1. Moreover, the spatial distribution of mCherry-labeled AGS-1 in the sludge system could be visualized and remained clear even after 5 days by fluorescence imaging. These results revealed that the mCherry-based biomarker system would provide a valuable tool for labeling AGS-1 to monitor the spatial distribution and fate of AGS-1 in AGS, which would help to better understand the mechanism of AGS formation and facilitate the development of AGS technology.

Smart Contract Vulnerability Detection Based on Deep Learning and Multimodal Decision Fusion.

With the rapid development and widespread application of blockchain technology in recent years, smart contracts running on blockchains often face security vulnerability problems, resulting in significant economic losses. Unlike traditional programs, smart contracts cannot be modified once deployed, and vulnerabilities cannot be remedied. Therefore, the vulnerability detection of smart contracts has become a research focus. Most existing vulnerability detection methods are based on rules defined by experts, which are inefficient and have poor scalability. Although there have been studies using machine learning methods to extract contract features for vulnerability detection, the features considered are singular, and it is impossible to fully utilize smart contract information. In order to overcome the limitations of existing methods, this paper proposes a smart contract vulnerability detection method based on deep learning and multimodal decision fusion. This method also considers the code semantics and control structure information of smart contracts. It integrates the source code, operation code, and control-flow modes through the multimodal decision fusion method. The deep learning method extracts five features used to represent contracts and achieves high accuracy and recall rates. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy of our method for arithmetic vulnerability, re-entrant vulnerability, transaction order dependence, and Ethernet locking vulnerability can reach 91.6%, 90.9%, 94.8%, and 89.5%, respectively, and the detected AUC values can reach 0.834, 0.852, 0.886, and 0.825, respectively. This shows that our method has a good vulnerability detection effect. Furthermore, ablation experiments show that the multimodal decision fusion method contributes significantly to the fusion of different modalities.

PDHA1 Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury by Improving Myocardial Insulin Resistance During Cardiopulmonary Bypass Surgery in Rats.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is a requisite technique for thoracotomy in advanced cardiovascular surgery. However, the consequent myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI) is the primary culprit behind cardiac dysfunction and fatal consequences post-operation. Prior research has posited that myocardial insulin resistance (IR) plays a vital role in exacerbating the progression of MIRI. Nonetheless, the exact mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain obscure. METHODS: We constructed pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 α subunit (PDHA1) interference and overexpression rats and used ascending aorta occlusion in an in vivo model of CPB-MIRI. We devised an in vivo model of CPB-MIRI by constructing rat models with both pyruvate dehydrogenase E1α subunit (PDHA1) interference and overexpression through ascending aorta occlusion. We analyzed myocardial glucose metabolism and the degree of myocardial injury using functional monitoring, biochemical assays, and histological analysis. RESULTS: We discovered a clear downregulation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) protein content expression in the CPB I/R model. In particular, cardiac-specific PDHA1 interference resulted in exacerbated cardiac dysfunction, significantly increased myocardial infarction area, more pronounced myocardial edema, and markedly increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Notably, the opposite effect was observed with PDHA1 overexpression, leading to a mitigated cardiac dysfunction and decreased incidence of myocardial infarction post-global ischemia. Mechanistically, PDHA1 plays a crucial role in regulating the protein content expression of GLUT4 on cardiomyocytes, thereby controlling the uptake and utilization of myocardial glucose, influencing the development of myocardial insulin resistance, and ultimately modulating MIRI. CONCLUSION: Overall, our study sheds new light on the pivotal role of PDHA1 in glucose metabolism and the development of myocardial insulin resistance. Our findings hold promising therapeutic potential for addressing the deleterious effects of MIRI in patients.

Enhancement of anaerobic digestion of ciprofloxacin wastewater by nano zero-valent iron immobilized onto biochar.

The commonly used antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) can significantly inhibit and interfere with the anaerobic digestion (AD) performance. This work was developed to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of nano iron-carbon composites to simultaneously enhance methane production and CIP removal during AD under CIP stress. The results demonstrated that when the nano-zero-valent iron (nZVI) content immobilized on biochar (BC) was 33% (nZVI/BC-33), the CIP degradation efficiency reached 87% and the methanogenesis reached 143 mL/g COD, both higher than Control. Reactive oxygen species analysis demonstrated that nZVI/BC-33 could effectively mitigate microorganisms subjected to the dual redox pressure from CIP and nZVI, and reduce a series of oxidative stress reactions. The microbial community depicted that nZVI/BC-33 enriched functional microorganisms related to CIP degradation and methane production and facilitated direct electron transfer processes. Nano iron-carbon composites can effectively alleviate the stress of CIP on AD and enhance methanogenesis.

Construction and application of a new CRISPR/Cas12a system in Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from aerobic granular sludge.

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is a microbial aggregate with a biofilm structure. Thus, investigating AGS in the aspect of biofilm and microbial attachment at the genetic level would help to reveal the mechanism of granule biofilm formation. In this work, a two-plasmid clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas)12a genome editing system was constructed to identify attachment genes for the first time in Stenotrophomonas AGS-1 from AGS. One plasmid contained a Cas12a cassette driven by an arabinose-inducible promoter, and another contained the specific crRNA and homologous arms (HAs). Acidaminococcus sp. Cas12a (AsCas12a) was adopted and proven to have mild toxicity (compared to Cas9) and strong cleavage activity for AGS-1. CRISPR/Cas12a-mediated rmlA knockout decreased attachment ability by 38.26%. Overexpression of rmlA in AGS-1 resulted in an increase of 30.33% in attachment ability. These results showed that the modulation of rmlA was an important factor for the biofilm formation of AGS-1. Moreover, two other genes (xanB and rpfF) were knocked out by CRISPR/Cas12a and identified as attachment-related genes in AGS-1. Also, this system could achieve point mutations. These data indicated that the CRISPR/Cas12a system could be an effective molecular platform for attachment gene function identification, which would be useful for the development of AGS in wastewater treatment.