Key Genes FECH and ALAS2 under Acute High-Altitude Exposure: A Gene Expression and Network Analysis Based on Expression Profile Data.

High-altitude acclimatization refers to the physiological adjustments and adaptation processes by which the human body gradually adapts to the hypoxic conditions of high altitudes after entering such environments. This study analyzed three mRNA expression profile datasets from the GEO database, focusing on 93 healthy residents from low altitudes (≤1400 m). Peripheral blood samples were collected for analysis on the third day after these individuals rapidly ascended to higher altitudes (3000-5300 m). The analysis identified significant differential expression in 382 genes, with 361 genes upregulated and 21 downregulated. Further, gene ontology (GO) annotation analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis indicated that the top-ranked enriched pathways are upregulated, involving blood gas transport, erythrocyte development and differentiation, and heme biosynthetic process. Network analysis highlighted ten key genes, namely, SLC4A1, FECH, EPB42, SNCA, GATA1, KLF1, GYPB, ALAS2, DMTN, and GYPA. Analysis revealed that two of these key genes, FECH and ALAS2, play a critical role in the heme biosynthetic process, which is pivotal in the development and maturation of red blood cells. These findings provide new insights into the key gene mechanisms of high-altitude acclimatization and identify potential biomarkers and targets for personalized acclimatization strategies.

Engineered Carrier-Free Nanosystem-Induced In Situ Therapeutic Vaccines for Potent Cancer Immunotherapy.

In situ vaccines that can stimulate tumor immune response have emerged as a breakthrough in antitumor therapy. However, the immunosuppressed tumor microenvironment and insufficient infiltration of immune cells lead to ineffective antitumor immunity. Hence, a biomimetic carrier-free nanosystem (BCC) to induce synergistic phototherapy/chemotherapy-driven in situ vaccines was designed. A carrier-free nanosystem was developed using phototherapeutic reagents CyI and celastrol as raw materials. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that under NIR light irradiation, BCC-mediated photo/chemotherapy not only accelerates the release of drugs to deeper parts of tumors, achieving timing and light-controlled drug delivery to result in cell apoptosis, but also effectively stimulates the antitumor response to induce in situ vaccine, which could invoke long-lasting antitumor immunity to inhibit tumor metastasis and eliminate distant tumor. This therapeutic strategy holds promise for priming robust innate and adaptive immune responses, arresting cancer progression, and inducing tumor dormancy.

Bioactivity and in vitro immunological studies of xenogeneic decellularized extracellular matrix scaffolds for implantable applications.

Decellularized scaffolds retain the main bioactive substances of the extracellular matrix, which can better promote cell proliferation and matrix reconstruction at the defect site, and have great potential for morphological and functional restoration in patients with tissue defects. Due to the safety of the material source of allogeneic decellularized scaffolds, there is a great limitation in their clinical application, so the preparation and evaluation of xenodermal acellular scaffolds have attracted much attention. In terms of skin tissue structure and function, porcine skin has a high degree of similarity to human skin and has the advantages of sufficient quantity and no ethical issues. However, there is a risk of immune rejection after xenodermal acellular scaffold transplantation. To address the above problems, this paper focuses on porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds prepared using two common decellularization preparation methods and compares the decellularization efficiency, retention of active components of the extracellular matrix, structural characterization of the decellularized scaffolds, and the effect of porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds on mouse Raw264.7 macrophages, so as to make a functional evaluation of the active components and immune effects of porcine dermal decellularized scaffolds, and to provide a reference for filling trauma-induced defects in humans.

Quasi-equilibrium growth of inch-scale single-crystal monolayer α-In2Se3 on fluor-phlogopite.

Epitaxial growth of two-dimensional (2D) materials with uniform orientation has been previously realized by introducing a small binding energy difference between the two locally most stable orientations. However, this small energy difference can be easily disturbed by uncontrollable dynamics during the growth process, limiting its practical applications. Herein, we propose a quasi-equilibrium growth (QEG) strategy to synthesize inch-scale monolayer α-In2Se3 single crystals, a semiconductor with ferroelectric properties, on fluor-phlogopite substrates. The QEG facilitates the discrimination of small differences in binding energy between the two locally most stable orientations, realizing robust single-orientation epitaxy within a broad growth window. Thus, single-crystal α-In2Se3 film can be epitaxially grown on fluor-phlogopite, the cleavage surface atomic layer of which has the same 3-fold rotational symmetry with α-In2Se3. The resulting crystalline quality enables high electron mobility up to 117.2 cm2 V-1 s-1 in α-In2Se3 ferroelectric field-effect transistors, exhibiting reliable nonvolatile memory performance with long retention time and robust cycling endurance. In brief, the developed QEG method provides a route for preparing larger-area single-crystal 2D materials and a promising opportunity for applications of 2D ferroelectric devices and nanoelectronics.

Whatever does not kill them makes them stronger: Using quaternary ammonia antimicrobials to alleviate the inhibition of ammonia oxidation under perfluorooctanoic acid stress.

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), benzalkyl dimethylammonium compounds (BAC) and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have negative effects on biological sewage treatment. The performance of nitrification systems under stress of PFOA (0.1-5 mg/L) or/and BAC (0.2-10 mg/L) was explored during 84-day experiments using four sequencing batch reactors, in this study. Low (0.1 mg/L) concentration PFOA had a positive influence on ammonia removal, while medium and high (2 and 5 mg/L) concentrations PFOA caused severe inhibition. Meanwhile, PFOA stress resulted in the enrichment of ARGs in water (w-ARGs). BAC (0-10 mg/L) had no obvious influence on ammonia removal. However, BAC promoted the reduction of ARGs and the bacterial community was the main participator (48.07%) for the spread of ARGs. Interestingly, the joint stress of PFOA and BAC increased the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) activity from 5.81 ± 0.19 and 6.05 ± 0.79 mg N/(g MLSS·h) to 7.09 ± 0.87 and 7.23 ± 0.29 mg N/(g MLSS·h) in medium and high concentrations, compared to single stress of PFOA, which was observed for the first time. BAC could reduce bioavailability of PFOA through competitive adsorption and decreasing sludge hydrophobicity by the lower ß-Sheet and α-Helix in tightly bound protein. Furthermore, the joint stress of PFOA and BAC was able to intensify the proliferation of w-ARGs and extracellular ARGs in sludge, and developed the most active horizontal gene transfer mediated by intl1 compared to single stress of PFOA or BAC. The batch tests verified the detoxification capacity of BAC on nitrification under 2.5 mg/L PFOA (48 h exposing), and the maximum alleviation of AOB activity was achieved at BAC and PFOA mass ratio of 2:1. In summary, BAC could be used to alleviate the inhibition of PFOA on ammonia oxidation, providing an efficient and sustainable approach in wastewater treatment.

Derivation of Dental Epithelial-like Cells from Murine Embryonic Stem Cells for Tooth Regeneration.

Teeth are comprised of epithelial and mesenchymal cells, and regenerative teeth rely on the regeneration of both cell types. Transcription factors play a pivotal role in cell fate determination. In this study, we establish fluorescence models based on transcription factors to monitor and analyze dental epithelial cells. Using Pitx2-P2A-copGFP mice, we observe that Pitx2+ epithelial cells, when combined with E14.5 dental mesenchymal cells, are sufficient for the reconstitution of teeth. Induced-Pitx2+ cells, directly isolated from the embryoid body that employs the Pitx2-GFP embryonic stem cell line, exhibit the capacity to differentiate into ameloblasts and develop into teeth when combined with dental mesenchymal cells. The regenerated teeth exhibit a complete structure, including dental pulp, dentin, enamel, and periodontal ligaments. Subsequent exploration via RNA-seq reveals that induced-Pitx2+ cells exhibit enrichment in genes associated with FGF receptors and WNT ligands compared with induced-Pitx2- cells. Our results indicate that both primary Pitx2+ and induced Pitx2+ cells possess the capability to differentiate into enamel-secreting ameloblasts and grow into teeth when combined with dental mesenchymal cells.

Continuous Flow Microreactors for the High-efficiency Enzymatic Synthesis of 10-Hydroxystearic Acid from Oleic Acid.

Converting fatty acids into specialty chemicals is sustainable but hindered by the low efficiency and thermal instability of current oleic acid hydratases, along with mass transfer limitations in emulsion reactions. This study introduces an optimized continuous flow micro-reactor (CFMR) that efficiently transforms oleic acid at low (15 g·L-1) and high (50 g·L-1) concentrations, improving reaction efficiency and overcoming key conversion barriers. The first CFMR model showed reaction speeds surpassing traditional batch stirred tank reactors (BSTR). Optimizations were performed on three key components: liquid storage, mixer, and reaction section of the CFMR, with each round's best conditions carried into the next. This achieved a space-time yield of 597 g·L-1·d-1 at a 15 g·L-1 oleic acid load. To further enhance the yield, we optimized the emulsifier system to solve incomplete emulsification and developed a two-component feed microreactor (TCFMR) that addressed substrate and product inhibition at high loads, reaching a 91% conversion of 50 g·L-1 oleic acid in 30 minutes, with a space-time yield of 2312 g·L-1·d-1. These advancements represent significant progress in utilizing fatty acids and advancing sustainable chemical synthesis.

Gut microbial dysbiosis and inflammation: Impact on periodontal health.

Periodontitis is widely acknowledged as the most prevalent type of oral inflammation, arising from the dynamic interplay between oral pathogens and the host's immune responses. It is also recognized as a contributing factor to various systemic diseases. Dysbiosis of the oral microbiota can significantly alter the composition and diversity of the gut microbiota. Researchers have delved into the links between periodontitis and systemic diseases through the "oral-gut" axis. However, whether the associations between periodontitis and the gut microbiota are simply correlative or driven by causative mechanistic interactions remains uncertain. This review investigates how dysbiosis of the gut microbiota impacts periodontitis, drawing on existing preclinical and clinical data. This study highlights potential mechanisms of this interaction, including alterations in subgingival microbiota, oral mucosal barrier function, neutrophil activity, and abnormal T-cell recycling, and offers new perspectives for managing periodontitis, especially in cases linked to systemic diseases.

COSTA: A Multi-center TOF-MRA Dataset and A Style Self-Consistency Network for Cerebrovascular Segmentation.

Time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) is the least invasive and ionizing radiation-free approach for cerebrovascular imaging, but variations in imaging artifacts across different clinical centers and imaging vendors result in inter-site and inter-vendor heterogeneity, making its accurate and robust cerebrovascular segmentation challenging. Moreover, the limited availability and quality of annotated data pose further challenges for segmentation methods to generalize well to unseen datasets. In this paper, we construct the largest and most diverse TOF-MRA dataset (COSTA) from 8 individual imaging centers, with all the volumes manually annotated. Then we propose a novel network for cerebrovascular segmentation, namely CESAR, with the ability to tackle feature granularity and image style heterogeneity issues. Specifically, a coarse-to-fine architecture is implemented to refine cerebrovascular segmentation in an iterative manner. An automatic feature selection module is proposed to selectively fuse global long-range dependencies and local contextual information of cerebrovascular structures. A style self-consistency loss is then introduced to explicitly align diverse styles of TOF-MRA images to a standardized one. Extensive experimental results on the COSTA dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our CESAR network against state-of-the-art methods. We have made 6 subsets of COSTA with the source code online available, in order to promote relevant research in the community.

A Clinical Nomogram for Predicting Overall Survival in Patients With T1/T2 Penile Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the overall survival (OS) and construct a nomogram to predict the OS of patients with penile squamous cell carcinoma (PSCC). METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed data of patients with PSCC from the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University between 2012 and 2022. R software was used to explore factors influencing OS in PSCC. Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test were employed for OS estimation. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to identify these factors. A nomogram was created to identify the independent prognostic factors. The model was evaluated by concordance index, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and calibration plots. RESULTS: A total of 159 patients with T1/T2 PSCC were included in the analysis. Patients with T2/N2 stage, older age, larger tumor size, high preoperative systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and poor preoperative nutrition had a higher incidence of poor OS. Age, T/N stage, tumor size, and SII were identified as independent prognostic indicators. A prognostic nomogram was formulated, and its predictive accuracy for estimating OS in PSCC patients was validated through ROC curves and calibration plots. CONCLUSION: The nomograms, based on age, T/N stage, tumor size, and high preoperative SII, provide a valuable tool for predicting 1-, 2-, and 3-year OS in patients with T1/T2 PSCC without distant metastases.

Jingqianshu granules mitigates premenstrual depression by regulating orexin signaling.

Introduction: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), is a serious health disorder that affects patient moods. It is caused by cyclic psychological symptoms and its pathogenesis is still unclear. Abnormalities in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) orexin system, which are important causes of the development of depressive mood, have not been reported in PMDD, so exploring its intrinsic mechanisms is meaningful for enriching the pathomechanisms of PMDD. Methods: High performance liquid chromatography was used for the determination of the active ingredients of Jingqianshu granules. Developing a rat model of premenstrual depression using the forced swimming test (FST). The experiment consisted of two parts. In Part 1, the rats were divided into the control group, the model group, the model + Jingqianshu group, and the model + fluoxetine group. The FST, open field test, and elevated plus maze test, were used to assess the behavior of the rats as well as to evaluate the effect of drug intervention. Immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR were used to detect the expression of orexin and its receptors OX1R and OX2R genes and proteins. The expression of Toll-like receptor 4, nuclear factor kappa-B, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin 6, and interleukin-1ß in the BLA brain region was detected by Western-Blot. In part 2, the rats were injected intracerebrally with orexin-A. Observe the behavioral activities of rats in the control group, model group, and model+orexin-A group. Immunofluorescence was used to detect microglia in the BLA area of rats, and the expression levels of the above inflammatory factors were detected by Western-Blot. Results: The five components of Jingqianshu granules are: paeoniflorin, erulic acid, liquiritin, hesperidin, and paeonol. During the estrous cycle, rats exhibited depressive-like behavior during the non-receptive phase of the behavioral test, which disappeared during the receptive phase. Immunofluorescence and RT-qPCR showed reduced gene and protein expression of orexin, OX1R, and OX2R in the BLA region of rats in the model group.WB showed elevated levels of inflammatory factors. All returned to control levels after drug treatment. In part 2, injection of orexin-A into the BLA brain region of model rats resulted in reduced immunoreactivity of microglia and decreased expression levels of inflammatory factors. Discussion: Jianqianshu granules can achieve the purpose of treating premenstrual depression by regulating orexin-mediated inflammatory factors, which provides a new idea for further research on the pathogenesis of PMDD. However, the current study is still preliminary and the pathogenesis of PMDD is complex. Therefore, more in-depth exploration is needed.

Effects of polyvinyl chloride microplastics and benzylalkyldimethylethyl compounds on system performance, microbial community and resistance genes in sulfur autotrophic denitrification system.

Benzylalkyldimethylethyl ammonium compounds (BAC) and polyvinyl chloride microplastics (PVC MPs), as the frequently detected pollutants in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), have attracted more concerns on their ecosystem risks. Therefore, this study investigated how the sulfur autotrophic denitrification (SAD) system responded to the single and joint stress of PVC MPs (1, 10 and 100 mg/L) and BAC (0.5, 5 and 10 mg/L). After 100 days of operation, the presence of 10 mg/L BAC led to obviously inhibitory effects on system performance and microbial metabolic activity. And the additions of PVC MPs or/and BAC stimulated the proliferation of intracellular resistance genes (RGs), whereas exposure to BAC increased the abundances of extracellular RGs and free RGs in water more significantly. Compared to the joint stress, BAC single stress resulted in higher abundances of free RGs in water, which further increased the risk of RGs propagation. Moreover, the interaction between mobile genetic elements and extracellular polymeric substances further increased the spread of RGs. Pathogens might be the potential hosts of RGs and enriched in SAD system and plastisphere, thereby leading to more serious ecological risks. This study will broaden the understanding of the environmental hazards posed by PVC MPs and BAC in WWTPs.

Temperature-Switching Flexible Strain Sensors Based on Vanadium Dioxide for Intelligent Packaging Applications.

Flexible sensors are promising for intelligent packaging and artificial intelligence, but the required multistimulus response is still a challenge in external environments. A candidate material for such multistimulus response is VO2 due to its unique semiconducting properties. Herein, W-doped VO2(M) with a tunable phase transition temperature was prepared by the hydrothermal method, and then, VO2(M)-based flexible sensors were fabricated employing a direct-write strategy, where conductive inks with VO2(M) powders were patterned onto various substrates. These sensors achieve dual responses to temperature and strain and exhibit high stability (over 2000 stretch-release cycles) to accurately monitor various statuses (opening and closing, temperature changes, etc.) of intelligent packaging. The spatial pressure distribution of different objects was discerned by the prepared VO2(M)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) sponge flexible pressure sensor arrays, and the information was successfully edited using the Morse code. The sensing signals from the intelligent packaging were collected and remotely transmitted to intelligent terminals via a wireless local-area network to achieve real-time monitoring of the packaged contents. Therefore, in this work, we not only designed new flexible sensors with multiple stimulus responses but also demonstrated the potential applications of W-doped VO2(M)-based flexible sensors in intelligent packaging.

Patients' perceptions matter: Risk communication and psychosocial factors in orthodontics.

INTRODUCTION: Effective risk communication is essential for achieving patient-centered oral health care, but the limited understanding of patients' subjective perceptions of orthodontic-related risks hinders this process. This study aimed to investigate adults' awareness, concerns, and risk-avoidance behaviors about long-term orthodontic risks, exploring their relationship with psychosocial factors. METHODS: We included 498 adult patients (mean age, 27.3 ± 6.8 years; women, 75.5%) during their initial visits to the orthodontic department at a hospital in Chengdu, China. Participants' understanding of orthodontic risks was gauged before and after exposure to the Oral Health Education Comics (OHEC), a specifically designed digital tool. Concurrently, we used logistic regression models to investigate the associations between patients' depression, anxiety, self-esteem, perfectionism, and dentofacial esthetics with risk perceptions. RESULTS: Approximately 79.5% of participants initially reported low awareness of orthodontic risks, with most knowledge from online sources. Notably, the percentage of participants with high awareness increased to 64.8% after OHEC. The negative facial soft-tissue change was most concerning for participants: 53.4% showed high concerns, and 28.1% showed high avoidance. Furthermore, linear regression indicated positive associations between depression (ß = 0.42 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 0.07-0.77]) and anxiety (ß = 0.76 [95% CI, 0.35-1.18]) with orthodontic risk concerns, whereas risk avoidance was positively associated with depression (ß = 0.62 [95% CI, 0.27-0.97]), anxiety (ß = 1.09 [95% CI, 0.68-1.50]), and perfectionism (ß = 0.24 [95% CI, 0.02-0.46]). CONCLUSIONS: Findings emphasize the imperative of streamlined risk communication in orthodontics. By incorporating comprehensible tools such as OHEC and integrating psychosocial evaluations, more refined patient-practitioner communication and psychosomatic-based dental care can be achieved.

Zwitterionic nanospheres engineered co-polymer composite membrane for precise protein-protein separation via dynamic self-assembly micelle deposition.

The accurate protein-protein separation is important but technically challenging. Achieving such a precise separation using membrane requires the selective channels with appropriate pore geometry structure and high anti-fouling property. In this study, polyethersulfone-b-poly(sulfobetaine methyl methacrylate) (PES-b-PSBMA) was synthesized and engineered onto polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane to fabricate zwitterionic nanospheres engineered co-polymer (ZN-e-CoP) composite membrane via dynamic self-assembly micelle deposition. On the one hand, self-assembly zwitterionic nanospheres were used as blocks to construct hydrophilic layers with size-dependent sieving channels, endowing ZN-e-CoP composite membranes with enhanced permselectivity and protein-protein separation abilities, meanwhile zwitterionic groups from nanospheres reinforced the structure stability of nanospheres/nanospheres and nanospheres/membrane via multiple intermolecular interactions. On the other hand, zwitterionic nanospheres can induce to produce the hydration layer enveloping themselves by binding water molecules, where hydration layer acts as a protective barrier on the membrane surface, impeding the protein adhesion. Hence, ZN-e-CoP_1a composite membrane exhibited superior separation properties with Lysozyme/Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) separation factor of 18.1 and 95.4 % rejection against BSA, 10.1 and 2.3 times, respectively, higher these of pristine PSF membrane (1.8 and 42.1 %), without obviously sacrificing water flux. Simultaneously, hydration layer enables the ZN-e-CoP_1a membrane with enhanced anti-fouling performance and durability during the long-term operations. The proposed approach opens new pathways to fabricate excellent anti-fouling membranes for precise protein-protein separation.

Psychotherapeutic and pharmacological agents for post-traumatic stress disorder with sleep disorder: network meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The current guidelines and canonical norms of diagnosis or treatment for Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with sleep disorder are still conflicting and have not yet reached a consensus. This study aimed to unravel the most effective countermeasures between two categories (psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy) put forward by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) and World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) respectively to treat PTSD individuals co-exist with sleep disorders. METHODS: Four databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and APA PsyNet, were searched from inception to February 02, 2023. RESULTS: Twenty articles with 24 Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and a total number of 1,647 participants were included. As demonstrated in the network meta-analysis comparison results, CBT-I (standardized mean differences (SMD) = -1.51,95% confidence interval (CI):-2.55 to -0.47), CBT-I plus IRT (SMD = -1.71, 95%CI:-3.39, -0.03), prazosin (SMD = -0.87,95%CI:-1.59 to -0.16) and hydroxyzine (SMD = -1.06, 95%CI: -1.94 to -0.19) significantly reduced PTSD symptoms compared with placebo. In contrast to placebo, CBT-I (SMD = -5.61,95%CI:-8.82 to -2.40) significantly improved sleep quality. For nightmare severity, IRT (SMD =-0.65, 95%CI:-1.00 to -0.31), prazosin (SMD = -1.20,95%CI:-1.72 to -0.67) and hydroxyzine (SMD = -0.98,95%CI:-1.58 to -0.37) significantly reduced nightmare severity in comparison with placebo. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that under most circumstances, psychotherapy namely CBT-I had a favorable profile, but pharmacotherapy with prazosin was effective in managing nightmare severity. The sole avail of CBT-I was recommended to improving sleep quality while CBT-I and CBT-I plus IRT showed excellent management of PTSD symptom severity. Exposure to CBT-I isrecommended for depression. The relevant clinical guidelines for the management of individuals with PTSD and sleep disorders may regard this as a reference. PROSPERO: CRD42023415240.

Effects of Substituting Tenebrio molitor and Elodea nuttallii as Feed on Growth, Flesh Quality and Intestinal Microbiota of Red Swamp Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii).

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of substituting a portion of feed with Tenebrio molitor (TM) and Elodea nuttallii (EN) on crayfish culture. A total of 270 crayfish (5.1 ± 0.4 g) were fed three different diet combinations (A: 100% feed; B: 80% feed + 10% TM + 10% EN; C: 75% feed + 15% TM + 10% EN) for 12 weeks. The findings demonstrated that group C had an important beneficial impact on the growth performance of crayfish. This was evidenced by a rise in digestive enzyme activity (trypsin, lipase, and cellulase) in the intestinal and hepatopancreas, as well as an upregulation in the expression of growth-related genes (ghsr, igfbp7, mhc, mlc1, mef2, and pax7) in the muscle. Furthermore, the assessment of the flesh quality of crayfish muscle in group C was conducted. The findings indicated a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the energy value (moisture, crude protein, and crude lipid) within the muscle. The levels of delicious amino acids (Glu, Ala, Ser, Gly, and Tyr) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (ARA, DHA) were enhanced, resulting in an improved nutritional profile and flavor of the muscle while maintaining the Σn-3/Σn-6 ratio. The remodeling of the intestinal microbiota (abundance of Proteobacteria and ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidota bacteria) also revealed improved growth performance. Additional research is necessary to ascertain whether excessive use of TM or EN feed substitution can have negative effects on crayfish culture.

Preparation and Properties of Composite Double-Network Gel for Inhibiting Coal Spontaneous Combustion.

In order to improve the inhibition effect of gel on coal spontaneous combustion, a chitosan (CS)/polyacrylamide (PAM)/metal ion (Al3+) composite double-network gel was developed in this study. The optimum formula of the composite double-network gel was determined using orthogonal experimentation. The microstructure, water retention, compressibility, and anti-destruction properties of the composite double-network gel were analyzed. The inhibition effect of the composite double-network gel on coal spontaneous combustion was studied via infrared spectroscopy and a synchronous thermal analyzer from the micro and macro perspectives. The results show that the composite double-network gel has a denser interpenetrating double-network structure and a larger void ratio than the ordinary gel. The water retention rate was 55% after standing at 150 °C for 12 h. The deformation memory ratio of the composite double-network gel was 78%, which was 26.8% higher than that of the ordinary gel, and the compressive strength also increased by 59.96%. In addition, the critical temperature point and the maximum thermal weight-loss rate temperature point decreased by 7.01 °C and 39.62 °C, respectively, and the composite double-network gel effectively reduced active functional groups in the treated coal sample, such as hydroxyl and aliphatic hydrocarbons. In this study, a CS/PAM/Al3+ composite double-network gel was produced, which exhibited good gel performance and inhibition effects, with physical effects such as the covering, wetting, and cementation of coal.

Ex Vivo Evaluation of the Function of Hematopoietic Stem Cells in Toxicology of Metals.

A variety of metals, e.g., lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and lithium (Li), are in the environment and are toxic to humans. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside at the apex of hematopoiesis and are capable of generating all kinds of blood cells and self-renew to maintain the HSC pool. HSCs are sensitive to environmental stimuli. Metals may influence the function of HSCs by directly acting on HSCs or indirectly by affecting the surrounding microenvironment for HSCs in the bone marrow (BM) or niche, including cellular and extracellular components. Investigating the impact of direct and/or indirect actions of metals on HSCs contributes to the understanding of immunological and hematopoietic toxicology of metals. Treatment of HSCs with metals ex vivo, and the ensuing HSC transplantation assays, are useful for evaluating the impacts of the direct actions of metals on the function of HSCs. Investigating the mechanisms involved, given the rarity of HSCs, methods that require large numbers of cells are not suitable for signal screening; however, flow cytometry is a useful tool for signal screening HSCs. After targeting signaling pathways, interventions ex vivo and HSCs transplantation are required to confirm the roles of the signaling pathways in regulating the function of HSCs exposed to metals. Here, we describe protocols to evaluate the mechanisms of direct and indirect action of metals on HSCs. © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Identify the impact of a metal on the competence of HSCs Basic Protocol 2: Identify the impact of a metal on the lineage bias of HSC differentiation Basic Protocol 3: Screen the potential signaling molecules in HSCs during metal exposure Alternate Protocol 1: Ex vivo treatment with a metal on purified HSCs Alternate Protocol 2: Ex vivo intervention of the signaling pathway regulating the function of HSCs during metal exposure.