Highly sensitive and selective determination of uranyl ions based on Ag/Ag2O-COF composite SERS substrate.

Uranium is an essential nuclear material in civilian and military areas; however, its extensive application raises concerns about the potential safety issues in the fields of environmental protection and nuclear industry. In this study, we developed an Ag/Ag2O-COF (covalent-organic framework) composite SERS substrate to detect uranyl ions (UO22+) in environmental aqueous solutions. Herein, the strong SERS effect of uranyl adsorbed in Ag/Ag2O composite and the high adsorption efficiency of COF TpPa-1 were combined to realize the trace detection of uranyl ions. This method displayed a linear range of 10-8 mol L-1 to 10-6 mol L-1 with the detection limit of 8.9 × 10-10 mol L-1 for uranyl ions. Furthermore, common metal cations and oxo-ions hardly affected the SERS detection of uranyl, which is helpful for the trace analysis of uranyl in natural water samples. Although the proposed strategy is deployed for uranyl detection, the reusable and high-efficiency system may be expanded to trace detection of other substance with Raman activity.

[Methods for traditional Chinese medicine syndrome-based efficacy evaluation: a review].

Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome-based efficacy is an evaluation index which is unique to TCM and can reflect the advantages of TCM. The development of the methods and measurement tools for evaluating TCM syndrome-based efficacy can provide objective and quantitative evidence for the clinical efficacy evaluation of TCM and the development of new Chinese medicine preparations, being the exploration direction of innovative methods and technologies for evaluating TCM efficacy. The conventional evaluation methods are subjective and limited to the mitigation of symptoms and the improvement of physical signs, which make it difficult to form a unified evaluation standard. In addition, the evaluation methods lack unity, objectivity, and quantitative research. The scientific connotation, evaluation ideas and methods, and key technologies of the evaluation for the therapeutic effect on syndromes remain unclear, which leads to diverse evaluation modes, methods, and indexes. The syndrome-based efficacy scale provides a new idea for the objective quantification and standardization of TCM syndromes. This review systematically summarizes the methods and problems, introduces the research progress in the evaluation scales, and puts forward some thoughts on the characteristics of TCM syndrome-based efficacy evaluation, aiming to provide insights for the research in this field.

TCMM: A unified database for traditional Chinese medicine modernization and therapeutic innovations.

Mining the potential of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in treating modern diseases requires a profound understanding of its action mechanism and a comprehensive knowledge system that seamlessly bridges modern medical insights with traditional theories. However, existing databases for modernizing TCM are plagued by varying degrees of information loss, which impede the multidimensional dissection of pharmacological effects. To address this challenge, we introduce traditional Chinese medicine modernization (TCMM), the currently largest modernized TCM database that integrates pioneering intelligent pipelines. By aligning high-quality TCM and modern medicine data, TCMM boasts the most extensive TCM modernization knowledge, including 20 types of modernized TCM concepts such as prescription, ingredient, target and 46 biological relations among them, totaling 3,447,023 records. We demonstrate the efficacy and reliability of TCMM with two features, prescription generation and knowledge discovery, the outcomes show consistency with biological experimental results. A publicly available web interface is at https://www.tcmm.net.cn/.

Arthroscopic debridement improves range of motion for heterotopic ossification after total knee replacement: a retrospective cohort study.

The presence of heterotopic ossification (HO) after primary total knee replacement (TKR) is rare and associated with limited mobility and stiffness of the knee. This study aimed to identify if the arthroscopic debridement after TKR could decrease HO and improve the function and range of motion. Thirty HO patients after TKR were retrospectively separated into 2 cohorts. 15 patients of group A accepted the arthroscopic debridement, while 15 patients of group B only had non-operative treatment, mainly including oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and rehabilitative treatment. Visual analog scale (VAS) scores, knee society knee scores (KSS), range of motion (knee flexion and knee extension) were obtained before treatment and at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after treatment. Radiography of after-treatment was also evaluated to assess the changes in HO. There were 3 males and 27 females with a mean age of 67.4 ± 0.8 years in group A and 68.2 ± 1.3 in group B. The onset time of HO was 3-6 months. The maximum size of the ossification was < 2 cm in 23 knees, 2 cm < heterotopic bone < 5 cm in 6 knees and > 5 cm in 1 knee. The size of HO decreased gradually in all knees by X-ray film at the last follow-up. There were no significant differences in VAS scores after replacement between two groups (p > 0.05). The average range of motion preoperatively in group A was - 15.2-90.6°, which postoperatively increased to - 4.2-110.0°. Meanwhile, the KSS scores and average range of motion of the group A were better than those of the group B at each follow-up time after treatment. Arthroscopic debridement can decrease HO seen from postoperative X-rays, improve the function and range of motion, as well as the pain remission between two groups are comparable. Consequently, arthroscopic resection of HO after TKR is recommended as soon as there is aggravating joint stiffness.

Cytokine expression patterns: A single-cell RNA sequencing and machine learning based roadmap for cancer classification.

Cytokines are small protein molecules that exhibit potent immunoregulatory properties, which are known as the essential components of the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). While some cytokines are known to be universally upregulated in TIME, the unique cytokine expression patterns have not been fully resolved in specific types of cancers. To address this challenge, we develop a TIME single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset, which is designed to study cytokine expression patterns for precise cancer classification. The dataset, including 39 cancers, is constructed by integrating 684 tumor scRNA-seq samples from multiple public repositories. After screening and processing, the dataset retains only the expression data of immune cells. With a machine learning classification model, unique cytokine expression patterns are identified for various cancer categories and pioneering applied to cancer classification with an accuracy rate of 78.01%. Our method will not only boost the understanding of cancer-type-specific immune modulations in TIME but also serve as a crucial reference for future diagnostic and therapeutic research in cancer immunity.

Enabling Wasted A4 Papers as a Promising Carbon Source to Construct Partially Graphitic Hierarchical Porous Carbon for High-Performance Aqueous Zn-Ion Storage.

Considering the superiorities of abundance, easy collection, low cost, and nearly constant composition, the wasted A4 papers are deemed as a recyclable and scalable carbon source to fabricate functional carbon materials for Zn-ion hybrid supercapacitors (ZIHSCs), which integrate the supercapacitors' high-power output and batteries' high energy density. Herein, the wasted A4 papers are efficiently converted into an advanced carbon material owning a hierarchical porous structure with a high surface area and interconnected multiscale channels, a graphitic structure, and a good level of N/O codoping. By taking advantage of these features, an express electron/ion transfer pathway, a large accessible surface interface, and a robust architecture are achieved for swift kinetics, numerous active sites, and excellent steadiness to afford a charming Zn2+ storage capability for the aqueous coin-type ZIHSC device (a high capacity of 244 mAh g-1 at 0.1 A g-1 with a capacity conservation of 116.4 mAh g-1 even amplifying the current density by 200 times, a supreme energy density of 190.4 Wh kg-1, a supreme power output of 18 kW kg-1, and an eminent durability of 93.8% over 10,000 cycles at 10 A g-1). Excitingly, the quasi-solid ZIHSC device also bespeaks an enjoyable capacity of 211.7 mAh g-1, a high energy density of 159.3 Wh kg-1, good mechanical flexibility, and a low self-discharge rate. This work puts forward a simple and scalable strategy to enable the wasted A4 paper as a competitive carbon source to construct advanced cathode material for Zn2+ storage.

GIT-Mol: A multi-modal large language model for molecular science with graph, image, and text.

Large language models have made significant strides in natural language processing, enabling innovative applications in molecular science by processing textual representations of molecules. However, most existing language models cannot capture the rich information with complex molecular structures or images. In this paper, we introduce GIT-Mol, a multi-modal large language model that integrates the Graph, Image, and Text information. To facilitate the integration of multi-modal molecular data, we propose GIT-Former, a novel architecture that is capable of aligning all modalities into a unified latent space. We achieve a 5%-10% accuracy increase in properties prediction and a 20.2% boost in molecule generation validity compared to the baselines. With the any-to-language molecular translation strategy, our model has the potential to perform more downstream tasks, such as compound name recognition and chemical reaction prediction.

Hydrophilic nanofibers with aligned topography modulate macrophage-mediated host responses via the NLRP3 inflammasome.

Successful biomaterial implantation requires appropriate immune responses. Macrophages are key mediators involved in this process. Currently, exploitation of the intrinsic properties of biomaterials to modulate macrophages and immune responses is appealing. In this study, we prepared hydrophilic nanofibers with an aligned topography by incorporating polyethylene glycol and polycaprolactone using axial electrospinning. We investigated the effect of the nanofibers on macrophage behavior and the underlying mechanisms. With the increase of hydrophilicity of aligned nanofibers, the inflammatory gene expression of macrophages adhering to them was downregulated, and M2 polarization was induced. We further presented clear evidence that the inflammasome NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) was the cellular sensor by which macrophages sense the biomaterials, and it acted as a regulator of the macrophage-mediated response to foreign bodies and implant integration. In vivo, we showed that the fibers shaped the implant-related immune microenvironment and ameliorated peritendinous adhesions. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that hydrophilic aligned nanofibers exhibited better biocompatibility and immunological properties.

LiDAR-aid Inertial Poser: Large-scale Human Motion Capture by Sparse Inertial and LiDAR Sensors.

We propose a multi-sensor fusion method for capturing challenging 3D human motions with accurate consecutive local poses and global trajectories in large-scale scenarios, only using single LiDAR and 4 IMUs, which are set up conveniently and worn lightly. Specifically, to fully utilize the global geometry information captured by LiDAR and local dynamic motions captured by IMUs, we design a two-stage pose estimator in a coarse-to-fine manner, where point clouds provide the coarse body shape and IMU measurements optimize the local actions. Furthermore, considering the translation deviation caused by the view-dependent partial point cloud, we propose a pose-guided translation corrector. It predicts the offset between captured points and the real root locations, which makes the consecutive movements and trajectories more precise and natural. Moreover, we collect a LiDAR-IMU multi-modal mocap dataset, LIPD, with diverse human actions in long-range scenarios. Extensive quantitative and qualitative experiments on LIPD and other open datasets all demonstrate the capability of our approach for compelling motion capture in large-scale scenarios, which outperforms other methods by an obvious margin. We will release our code and captured dataset to stimulate future research.

Highly Sensitive Adsorption and Detection of Iodide in Aqueous Solution by a Post-Synthesized Zirconium-Organic Framework.

Effective methods of detection and removal of iodide ions (I-) from radioactive wastewater are urgently needed and developing them remains a great challenge. In this work, an Ag+ decorated stable nano-MOF UiO-66-(COOH)2 was developed for the I- to simultaneously capture and sense in aqueous solution. Due to the uncoordinated carboxylate groups on the UiO-66-(COOH)2 framework, Ag+ was successfully incorporated into the MOF and enhanced the intrinsic fluorescence of MOF. After adding iodide ions, Ag+ would be produced, following the formation of AgI. As a result, Ag+@UiO-66-(COOH)2 can be utilized for the removal of I- in aqueous solution, even in the presence of other common ionic ions (NO2-, NO3-, F-, SO42-). The removal capacity as high as 235.5 mg/g was calculated by Langmuir model; moreover, the fluorescence of Ag+@UiO-66-(COOH)2 gradually decreases with the deposition of AgI, which can be quantitatively depicted by a linear equation. The limit of detection toward I- is calculated to be 0.58 ppm.

Comparative Analysis of the Self-Propelled Locomotion of a Pitching Airfoil near the Flat and Wavy Ground.

In this paper, a pitching airfoil near flat and wavy ground is studied by numerical simulations. The kinematic features of the airfoil and the flow field around it are analyzed to reveal unsteady vorticity dynamics of the self-propelled airfoil in ground effect. The optimal pitching periods at different initial heights above flat ground are obtained, which make the pitching airfoil achieve the maximum lift-to-drag ratio. Compared with flat ground, at the same initial height, the optimal pitching periods vary with the shape of ground. The structure and the strength of the wake vortices shedding from the airfoil are adjusted by the wavelength of ground. This leads to the changes of amplitude and occurrence times of the peak and valley of lift and drag force. The results obtained in this study can provide some inspiration for the design of underwater vehicles in the ground effect.

Morphological and electrophysiological changes of retina after different light damage in three patients: Three case reports.

BACKGROUND: Light-induced retinal damage is a serious vision-threatening disease, resulting from unsuitable laser irradiation, high-power light and sustaining light exposure. Therefore, effectively evaluate the morphological and functional of retinal damage is urgently needed. Now, we mainly reported three patients suffered from typical light irradiations. CASE SUMMARY: Patient 1 suffered from old laser pointer irradiation and followed with amblyopia treatment. Patient 2 suffered from acute high-energy light irradiation. Patient 3 suffered from sustaining optical fiber irradiation. Detailed morphological and functional examinations of the retina revealed that the lesions of the three patients had many similar characteristics, such as macular morphological changes, patent pattern visual monitoring amplitude or peak time abnormalities, multi-fucus electroretinograms macular central amplitude density decreased. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, light-induced retinopathy has many common features, which can help clinical medical staff to diagnose retinal photodamage diseases.

Lipid nanoparticle-assisted miR29a delivery based on core-shell nanofibers improves tendon healing by cross-regulation of the immune response and matrix remodeling.

Inferior healing and peritendinous adhesions are the major clinical problems following Achilles tendon injury, leading to impaired motor function and an increased risk of re-rupture. These complications are presumed to be inextricably linked to inflammation and fibroscar formation. Here, microRNA29a is identified as a promising therapeutic target for tendon injury through the cross-regulation of the immune response and matrix remodeling. MiR29a-LNPs were successfully prepared by microfluidic technology. They are then loaded into the core-shell nanofibers to achieve local delivery in the injured tendon, where the shell layer is composed of PELA for anti-adhesion. Our studies reveal that miR29a regulates collagen synthesis and NF-κB activation in tenocytes, and promotes macrophage polarization by inhibiting the inflammasome pathway. In vivo studies of the Achilles tendon-rupture model indicate the best repair in the miR29a group, as evidenced by superior collagen composition and alignment, higher mechanical strength, and better functional recovery. In conclusion, a functionalized anti-adhesive membrane that promotes nascent tendon matrix remodeling and improves the regenerative immune microenvironment is developed for the treatment of tendon injury.

Lipid nanoparticle-encapsulated VEGFa siRNA facilitates cartilage formation by suppressing angiogenesis.

Cartilage is an important tissue that is widely found in joints, ears, nose and other organs. The limited capacity to regenerate makes cartilage reconstruction an urgent clinical demand. Due to the avascular nature of cartilage, we hypothesized that inhibition of vascularization contributes to cartilage formation. Here, we used VEGFa siRNA to inhibit the infiltration of the local vascular system. Optimized lipid nanoparticles were prepared by microfluidics for the delivery of siRNA. Then, we constructed a tissue engineering scaffold. Both seed cells and VEGFa siRNA-LNPs were loaded in a GELMA hydrogel. Subcutaneous implantation experiments in nude mice indicate that this is a promising strategy for cartilage reconstruction. The regenerated cartilage was superior, with significant upregulation of SOX9, COL-II and ACAN. This is attributed to an environment deficient in oxygen and nutrients, which facilitates cartilage formation by upregulating HIF-1α and FOXO transcription factors. In conclusion, a GelMA/Cells+VEGFa siRNA-LNPs scaffold was constructed to achieve superior cartilage regeneration.

Integrated Analysis of Hi-C and RNA-Seq Reveals the Molecular Mechanism of Autopolyploid Growth Advantages in Pak Choi (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis).

Polyploids generated by the replication of a single genome (autopolyploid) or synthesis of two or more distinct genomes (allopolyploid) usually show significant advantages over their diploid progenitors in biological characteristics, including growth and development, nutrient accumulation, and plant resistance. Whereas, the impacts of genomic replication on transcription regulation and chromatin structure in pak choi have not been explored fully. In this study, we observed the transcriptional and genomic structural alterations between diploid B. rapa (AA) and artificial autotetraploid B. rapa (AAAA) using RNA-seq and Hi-C. RNA-seq revealed 1,786 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the diploids and autotetraploids, including 717 down-regulated and 1,069 up-regulated genes in autotetraploids. Of all the 1,786 DEGs, 23 DEGs (10 down-regulated DEGs in autotetraploids) were involved in Compartment A-B shifts, while 28 DEGs (20 up-regulated DEGs in autotetraploids) participated in Compartment B-A shifts. Moreover, there were 15 DEGs in activated topologically associating domains (TADs) (9 up-regulated DEGs in diploids) and 80 DEGs in repressed TADs (49 down-regulated DEGs in diploids). Subsequently, eight DEGs with genomic structural variants were selected as potential candidate genes, including four DEGs involved in photosynthesis (BraA01003143, BraA09002798, BraA04002224, and BraA08000594), three DEGs related to chloroplast (BraA05002974, BraA05001662, and BraA04001148), and one DEG associated with disease resistance (BraA09004451), which all showed high expression in autotetraploids. Overall, our results demonstrated that integrative RNA-seq and Hi-C analysis can identify related genes to phenotypic traits and also provided new insights into the molecular mechanism of the growth advantage of polyploids.

Distal tibial tubercle osteotomy can lessen change in patellar height post medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy (MOWHTO) is a mainstream surgical method for treating early medial compartment knee osteoarthritis. Undesirable sequelae such as patella infera may happen following tuberosity osteotomy. We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the change in patellar position after proximal tibial tubercle osteotomy (PTO) versus distal tibial tubercle osteotomy (DTO) intervention. METHODS: The 11 studies were acquired from PubMed, Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library. The data were extracted by two of the coauthors independently and were analyzed by RevMan5.3. Mean differences, odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Cochrane Collaboration's Risk of Bias Tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used to assess risk of bias. RESULTS: Eleven observational studies were assessed. The methodological quality of the trials ranged from moderate to high. The pooled results of postoperative patellar height (Caton-Deschamps index and Blackburne-Peel index) and postoperative complications showed that the differences were statistically significant between PTO and DTO interventions. Patellar index ratios decreased significantly in the PTO groups, and 12 (9.2%) complications under DTO surgery and 2 (1.6%) complications under PTO surgery were reported. The differences of postoperative posterior tibial slope (angle) was not statistically significant, but postoperative posterior tibial slope of both groups increased. Sensitivity analysis proved the stability of the pooled results and the publication bias was not apparent. CONCLUSIONS: DTO in MOWHTO maintained the postoperative patellar height, and clinically, for patients with serious patellofemoral osteoarthritis, DTO can be preferred. Postoperative complications are easily preventable with caution. In view of the heterogeneity and small sample size, whether these conclusions are applicable should be further determined in future studies.

Boosting the Activity of Single-Atom Pt1/CeO2 via Co Doping for Low-Temperature Catalytic Oxidation of CO.

The properties of supports have a significant effect on the activity of noble metal single atoms. In this work, Co-doped CeO2-supported single-atom Pt catalysts (Pt1/Co-CeO2) have been acquired by a synchronous pyrolysis/deposition route and demonstrated to promote low-temperature oxidation of CO. Revealed by a model reaction of 1% CO + 1% O2 + 98% He at a space velocity of 12,000 mL/gcat/h, CO conversion (100 °C) acquired on a (0.5% Pt)/(10% Co-CeO2) catalyst (36.6%) was 3.6 and 4.9 times those of 0.5% Pt/CeO2 (10.0%) and 10% Co-CeO2 (7.4%) catalysts and 2.1 times that of their conversion sum (17.4%), confirming the positive role of the Co dopant in boosting the low-temperature oxidation of CO. The consistent results are also verified in the comparison of Pt1/Co-ZnO with Pt1/ZnO and Pt1/Co-Al2O3 with Pt1/Al2O3. In addition, the activity of single-atom Pt1/Co-CeO2 catalysts can be facilely modified by changing the loading of Pt and/or doping amount of Co. These reasonable data will provide a methodology to access more applicable catalysts for CO oxidation at low temperature.

The influence of protease hydrolysis of lactic acid bacteria on the fermentation induced soybean protein gel: Protein molecule, peptides and amino acids.

The purpose explored the influence of protease hydrolysis of lactic acid bacteria and its hydrolysates on the fermentation induced soybean protein gel. The changes of protein molecule, peptides and amino acids after hydrolysis were analyzed. With the extension of fermentation time, the molecules (≤30 kDa) of L. paracasei-gel and L. plantarum-gel increased to 68.8% and 63%, the surface hydrophobicity of protein was increased, internal sulfhydryl groups and soluble proteins were reduced. These results indicated physicochemical properties of protein molecules were changed, small molecular proteins produced by hydrolysis were aggregated through intermolecular forces to promote gel formation. Peptide profiles and amino acid profiles showed that the peptides (≤10AA) of L. casei-gel increased by 3.32%, the peptides derived from 7S protein increased by more than 5%, the hydrophobic peptides and hydrophobic amino acids increased, these enzymatic hydrolysates may form insoluble aggregate through intermolecular forces to promote gel formation.

mRNA and long non-coding RNA expression profiles of rotator cuff tear patients reveal inflammatory features in long head of biceps tendon.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to identify the differentially expressed mRNAs and lncRNAs in inflammatory long head of biceps tendon (LHBT) of rotator cuff tear (RCT) patients and further explore the function and potential targets of differentially expressed lncRNAs in biceps tendon pathology. METHODS: Human gene expression microarray was made between 3 inflammatory LHBT samples and 3 normal LHBT samples from RCT patients. GO analysis and KEGG pathway analysis were performed to annotate the function of differentially expressed mRNAs. The real-time quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was admitted to verify their expression. LncRNA-mRNA co-expression network, cis-acting element, trans-acting element and transcription factor (TF) regulation analysis were constructed to predict the potential molecular regulatory mechanisms and targets for LHB tendinitis. RESULTS: 103 differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs, of which 75 were up-regulated and 28 were down-regulated, were detected to be differentially expressed in LHBT. The expressions of 4 most differentially expressed lncRNAs (A2MP1, LOC100996671, COL6A4P, lnc-LRCH1-5) were confirmed by qRT-PCR. GO functional analysis indicated that related lncRNAs and mRNAs were involved in the biological processes of regulation of innate immune response, neutrophil chemotaxis, interleukin-1 cell response and others. KEGG pathway analysis indicated that related lncRNAs and mRNAs were involved in MAPK signaling pathway, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, cAMP signaling pathway and others. TF regulation analysis revealed that COL6A4P2, A2MP1 and LOC100996671 target NFKB2. CONCLUSIONS: LlncRNA-COL6A4P2, A2MP1 and LOC100996671 may regulate the inflammation of LHBT in RCT patients through NFKB2/NF-kappa B signaling pathway, and preliminarily revealed the pathological molecular mechanism of tendinitis of LHBT.

Differences in the physicochemical, digestion and microstructural characteristics of soy protein gel acidified with lactic acid bacteria, glucono-δ-lactone and organic acid.

This study evaluated the differences in the physicochemical, digestion and microstructure of soy protein gels acidified with Lactobacillus casei (L. casei), glucono-δ-lactone (GDL) and citric acid. The maximum acidification rate was as follows: citric acid > GDL > L. casei. The gelation points of L. casei-induced gel (LC gel) and GDL-induced gel (GDL gel) occurred at 74 min and 55 min; however, gelation point of citric acid-induced gel (CA gel) was not detected because acidification was too fast. LC gel showed the high gel hardness (20.40 ± 2.23 g) and water holding capacity (84.58 ± 0.59%). At the end of intestinal digestion, the average particle size of the LC gel was the largest, but there was no significant difference between GDL gel and CA gel. The microstructure of the GDL gel was found to be the densest. Acidification rate was the "key step" of acid-induced gels, while both the proteolytic and exopolysaccharide (EPS) production capacity were involved in LC gel.