Sweet cherry TCP gene family analysis reveals potential functions of PavTCP1, PavTCP2 and PavTCP3 in fruit light responses.

BACKGROUND: TCP proteins are plant specific transcription factors that play important roles in plant growth and development. Despite the known significance of these transcription factors in general plant development, their specific role in fruit growth remains largely uncharted. Therefore, this study explores the potential role of TCP transcription factors in the growth and development of sweet cherry fruits. RESULTS: Thirteen members of the PavTCP family were identified within the sweet cherry plant, with two, PavTCP1 and PavTCP4, found to contain potential target sites for Pav-miR159, Pav-miR139a, and Pav-miR139b-3p. Analyses of cis-acting elements and Arabidopsis homology prediction analyses that the PavTCP family comprises many light-responsive elements. Homologs of PavTCP1 and PavTCP3 in Arabidopsis TCP proteins were found to be crucial to light responses. Shading experiments showed distinct correlation patterns between PavTCP1, 2, and 3 and total anthocyanins, soluble sugars, and soluble solids in sweet cherry fruits. These observations suggest that these genes may contribute significantly to sweet cherry light responses. In particular, PavTCP1 could play a key role, potentially mediated through Pav-miR159, Pav-miR139a, and Pav-miR139b-3p. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to unveil the potential function of TCP transcription factors in the light responses of sweet cherry fruits, paving the way for future investigations into the role of this transcription factor family in plant fruit development.

Analysis of full and empty ratio of EV71 virus by using capillary zone electrophoresis.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease is a serious public health problem, and the main pathogen is enterovirus 71 (EV71). Its capsid assembly mechanism including capsid protein processing has been widely studied. Full and empty capsids have different immunological efficacy. Therefore, tracking full/empty capsid ratio throughout the EV71 production process is important to ensure consistent product quality and proper dosing response. The analysis of full/empty capsid ratio of intact virus has been widely reported as well. A variety of techniques have been employed to evaluate the full/empty capsid ratios. However, there has not been a rapid, reproducible, and robust assay to determine the full/empty capsid ratios of final and in-process products. In this study, a novel assay based on capillary zone electrophoresis was established. The separation of full and empty species could be achieved within 10 min and the ratio of peak areas was used to calculate the full/empty capsid ratio directly. The results showed good reproducibility and linearity for the determination of full/empty capsid ratios.

Adding carbon sources to the substrates enhances Cr and Ni removal and mitigates greenhouse gas emissions in constructed wetlands.

Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment pose challenges related to long-term operational efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. This study investigated the impact of adding peat, humic acid, and biochar into the substrates of constructed wetlands and focused on Cr, and Ni removal, greenhouse gas emissions, and microbial communities in constructed wetlands. Biochar addition treatment achieved the highest removal efficiencies for total Cr (99.96%), Cr (VI) (100%), and total Ni (91.04%). Humic acid and biochar addition both significantly increased the heavy metal content in wetland plant Leersia hexandra and substrates of constructed wetlands. Further analysis of microbial community proportions by high-throughput sequencing revealed that biochar and humic acid treatments enhanced Cr and Ni removal efficiency by increasing the abundance of Bacteroidetes, Geobacter and Ascomycota. Humic acid addition treatment reduced CO2 emissions by decreasing the abundance of Bacteroidetes and increasing that of Basidiomycota. Peat treatment decreased CH4 emissions by reducing the abundance of the Bacteroidetes. Biochar treatment increased the abundance of the Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria as well as Basidiomycota, resulting in reduced N2O emissions. Biochar and humic acid treatments efficiently removed heavy metals from wastewater and mitigated greenhouse gas emissions in constructed wetlands by modifying the microbial communities.

Repair effect of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived small extracellular vesicles on ovarian injury induced by cisplatin.

Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) secreted by human umbilical cord have therapeutic effects on various degenerative diseases. However, the characteristics and potential functions of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (huMSCs)-derived sEVs, especially the role of premature ovarian failure (POF), are poorly understood. Here, we isolated and characterized huMSCs and their sEVs. huMSCs highly expressed CD73, CD90, and CD105. huMSC-sEVs showed typical exosomal features, highly expressing CD9, TSG101, and CD63. It was shown that huMSC-sEVs could be taken up by granulosa cells (GCs) and damaged ovarian tissue, which increased the levels of hormone secretion and reduced GCs apoptosis. We further confirmed that the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone in rat serum decreased dramatically, while the levels of estrogen (E2）and anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) increased significantly with the treatment of huMSC-sEVs. Meanwhile, huMSC-sEVs treatment greatly reduced cell apoptosis and autophagy, while increased the phosphorylation levels of p-PI3K and p-Akt. Therefore, treatment with huMSC-sEVs significantly inhibited GCs apoptosis, improved ovarian morphology, promoted follicular development, inhibited follicular over-atresia, and improved ovarian reserve capacity in POF rats. Our study verified that activation of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway and regulation of cellular autophagy, thus reducing GCs death, are the mechanisms by which huMSC-sEVs restore ovarian tissue function.

Application of bacterial agent YH for remediation of pyrene-heavy metal co-pollution system: Efficiency, mechanism, and microbial response.

The combination of organic and heavy metal pollutants can be effectively and sustainably remediated using bioremediation, which is acknowledged as an environmentally friendly and economical approach. In this study, bacterial agent YH was used as the research object to explore its potential and mechanism for bioremediation of pyrene-heavy metal co-contaminated system. Under the optimal conditions (pH 7.0, temperature 35°C), it was observed that pyrene (PYR), Pb(II), and Cu(II) were effectively eliminated in liquid medium, with removal rates of 43.46%, 97.73% and 81.60%, respectively. The microscopic characterization (SEM/TEM-EDS, XPS, XRD and FTIR) results showed that Pb(II) and Cu(II) were eliminated by extracellular adsorption and intracellular accumulation of YH. Furthermore, the presence of resistance gene clusters (cop, pco, cus and pbr) plays an important role in the detoxification of Pb(II) and Cu(II) by strains YH. The degradation rate of PYR reached 72.51% in composite contaminated soil, which was 4.33 times that of the control group, suggesting that YH promoted the dissipation of pyrene. Simultaneously, the content of Cu, Pb and Cr in the form of F4 (residual state) increased by 25.17%, 6.34% and 36.88%, respectively, indicating a decrease in the bioavailability of heavy metals. Furthermore, YH reorganized the microbial community structure and enriched the abundance of hydrocarbon degradation pathways and enzyme-related functions. This study would provide an effective microbial agent and new insights for the remediation of soil and water contaminated with organic pollutants and heavy metals.

Size distribution analysis of residual host cell DNA fragments in lentivirus by CGE-LIF.

During the production of cell and gene therapy products, residual host cell DNA (HCD) could cause safety risks of the biological products, and the longer the residual HCD fragment, the greater the risk to the human body. For this reason, it was necessary to develop an effective method for the size distribution analysis of residual HCD fragments with high accuracy and sensitivity. In this study, capillary gel electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detector (CGE-LIF) was used to analyze the size distribution of residual HCD fragments in lentivirus products. The results confirmed that lentiviral RNA genome could interfere with the size distribution analysis of residual HCD fragments. By optimizing the amount of RNase I and digestion time in sample pretreatment process, the interfere of RNA genome could be avoided. The specificity, precision, accuracy, linear range, the detection of limit (LOD), and the quantification of limit (LOQ) of CGE-LIF method were also validated. The results showed that the CGE-LIF method had a good performance both in terms of specificity and reproducibility. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations of migration time and corrected peak area were all less than 1% and 2%, respectively. The 200 bp DNA marker had a good linearity between 50 and 1000 pg/ml. The LOD and LOQ of 200 bp DNA marker were 2.59 and 8.64 pg/ml, respectively. In addition, this method was successfully used to analyze the size distribution analysis of residual HCD fragments in lentivirus products with different production processes.

Enhanced crude oil degradation by remodeling of crude oil-contaminated soil microbial community structure using sodium alginate/graphene oxide/Bacillus C5 immobilized pellets.

Bioaugmentation (BA) of oil-contaminated soil by immobilized microorganisms is considered to be a promising technology. However, available high-efficiency microbial agents remain very limited. Therefore, we prepared a SA/GO/C5 immobilized gel pellets by embedding the highly efficient crude oil degrading bacteria Bacillus C5 in the SA/GO composite material. The optimum preparation conditions of SA/GO/C5 immobilized gel pellets were: SA 3.0%, GO 25.0 µg/mL, embedding amount of C5 6%, water bath temperature of 50°C, CaCl2 solution concentration 3% and cross-linking time 20 h. BA experiments were carried out on crude oil contaminated soil to explore the removal effect of SA/GO/C5 immobilized pellets. The results showed that the SA/GO/C5 pellets exhibited excellent mechanical strength and specific surface area, which facilitated the attachment and growth of the Bacillus C5. Compared with free bacteria C5, the addition of SA/GO/C5 significantly promoted the removal of crude oil in soil, reaching 64.92% after 30 d, which was 2.1 times the removal rate of C5. The addition of SA/GO/C5 promoted the abundance of soil exogenous Bacillus C5 and indigenous crude oil degrading bacteria Alcanivorax and Marinobacter. In addition, the enrichment of hydrocarbon degradation-related functional abundance was predicted by PICRUSt2 in the SA/GO/C5 treatment group. This study demonstrated that SA/GO/C5 is an effective method for remediating crude oil-contaminated soil, providing a basis and option for immobilized microorganisms bioaugmentation to remediate organic contaminated soil.

Study on correlations of BDNF, PI3K, AKT and CREB levels with depressive emotion and impulsive behaviors in drug-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of schizophrenia is still unknown. Nearly a half of schizophrenic patients have depressive symptoms and even some impulsive behaviors. The definite diagnosis of schizophrenia is an immense challenge. Molecular biology plays an essential role in the research on the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to analyze the correlations of serum protein factor levels with depressive emotion and impulsive behaviors in drug-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia. METHODS: Seventy drug-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia and sixty-nine healthy volunteers from the health check center in the same period participated in this study. In both the patient group and control group, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), phosphatidylin-ositol-3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB) levels in the peripheral blood were tested by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The depressive emotion and impulsive behaviors were evaluated with Chinese versions of the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS) and Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P), respectively. RESULTS: The serum levels of BDNF, PI3K, and CREB in the patient group were lower than those in the control group, while AKT level, total CDSS score and total S-UPPS-P score were all higher. In the patient group, total CDSS score, and total S-UPPS-P score were both correlated negatively with BDNF, PI3K, and CREB levels but positively with AKT level, and the lack-of-premeditation (PR) sub-scale score was not significantly correlated with BDNF, PI3K, AKT, and CREB levels. CONCLUSION: Our study results showed that the peripheral blood levels of BDNF, PI3K, AKT, and CREB in drug-naïve patients with first-episode schizophrenia were significantly different from those in the control group. The levels of these serum protein factors are promising biomarkers to predict schizophrenic depression and impulsive behaviors.

Genome-Wide Identification of Histone Deacetylases and Their Roles Related with Light Response in Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum).

Histone deacetylases (HDACs), known as histone acetylation erasers, function crucially in plant growth and development. Although there are abundant reports focusing on HDACs of Arabidopsis and illustrating their important roles, the knowledge of HDAC genes in Tartary buckwheat (Polygonales Polygonaceae Fagopyrum tataricum (L.) Gaertn) is still scarce. In the study, a total of 14 HDAC genes were identified and divided into three main groups: Reduced Potassium Dependency-3/His-52 tone Deacetylase 1 (RPD3/HDA1), Silent Information Regulator 2 (SIR2), and the plant-53 specific HD2. Domain and motif composition analysis showed there were conserved domains and motifs in members from the same subfamilies. The 14 FtHDACs were distributed asymmetrically on 7 chromosomes, with three segmental events and one tandem duplication event identified. The prediction of the cis-element in promoters suggested that FtHDACs probably acted in numerous biological processes including plant growth, development, and response to environmental signals. Furthermore, expression analysis based on RNA-seq data displayed that all FtHDAC genes were universally and distinctly expressed in diverse tissues and fruit development stages. In addition, we found divergent alterations in FtHDACs transcript abundance in response to different light conditions according to RNA-seq and RT-qPCR data, indicating that five FtHDACs might be involved in light response. Our findings could provide fundamental information for the HDAC gene family and supply several targets for future function analysis of FtHDACs related with light response of Tartary buckwheat.

A platform method for plasmid isoforms analysis by capillary gel electrophoresis.

In the production of novel biological products, plasmids are often engineered into delivery vectors for target genes, which can be used directly as vaccines or as intermediate products for gene/cell therapy. Plasmid DNA exists in several topological forms such as supercoiled, linear, and open circular. As supercoiled plasmid shows the highest efficiency in transfecting eukaryotic cells, the content of supercoiled plasmids becomes an important indicator of plasmid quality. CGE is an effective analysis method for separating different topological structures of plasmids. For the purpose of providing plasmid manufacturers and regulatory agencies with an efficient and readily used tool for monitoring the quality of plasmids, this article identifies the optimal separation and detection conditions of CGE, presents a platform-based plasmid analytical method, and uses plasmid of different sizes to verify the feasibility of this method. In terms of detector, the LIF detector has obvious advantages over the ultraviolet detector in sensitivity and resolution. Using the optimal CE condition (10× gel buffer), baseline separation of different topological forms and impurities can be achieved for different plasmid sizes (5.9, 7.8, 15.4 kb). In addition, 6.5 kb plasmid was used to compare the different separation technologies such as CGE-LIF, ion exchange chromatography and agarose gel electrophoresis. The result shows that CGE-LIF can provide better resolution and quantitation accuracy than ion exchange chromatography and agarose gel electrophoresis. CGE-LIF, as a quick and convenient method to separate and quantify plasmids, has the advantages of high sensitivity, high resolution, and high quantitative accuracy. Therefore, it is ideal for analysis of plasmids with different sizes, and it can also be used as a platform method for manufacturers and regulatory agencies to monitor the purity and stability of plasmids.

Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Quality Changes during Sweet Cherry Fruit Development and Mining of Related Genes.

Sweet cherries are economically important fruit trees, and their quality changes during development need to be determined. The mechanism of fruit quality changes in sweet cherries were determined by analyzing sweet cherry fruits at 12 developmental stages. The results showed that the soluble sugar, anthocyanin content, and hormones of sweet cherries all changed drastically during the color transition. Therefore, the fruits at the beginning of color conversion, at the end of color conversion, and at the ripening state were selected for the comprehensive analysis of their metabolome and transcriptome. Different sugars, such as D-glucose, sucrose, and trehalose, were identified in the metabolome. Dihydroquercetin, delphinidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-rutincoside, and other flavonoid species were also identified. D-glucose and cyanidin-3-rutinoside were among the most important components of sweet cherry soluble sugars and anthocyanins, respectively. The transcriptional analysis identified key structural genes and nine transcription factors involved in the ABA, sugar, organic acid, and anthocyanin synthesis pathways, with the following specific regulatory patterns. NAC71, WRKY57, and WRKY3 regulate fruit sugar accumulation mainly by acting on INV, SPS, and SUS. MYC2 is involved in the synthesis of anthocyanin precursors by activating PAL and C4H, whereas TCP7 mainly regulates CHI and F3H. WRKY3, NAC71, and WRKY57 have important positive regulatory significance on anthocyanin accumulation, mainly by activating the expression of DFR, ANS, and 3GT.

Characterization of novel CTNNB1 mutation in Craniopharyngioma by whole-genome sequencing.

BACKGROUND: Craniopharyngioma (CP) is rare histologically benign but clinically challenging tumor because of its intimate relationship with the critical structure in the central brain. CP can be divided into two major histologic subtypes: adamantinomatous-type CP (ACP) and papillary-type CP (PCP). Although some genetic aberrations for both categories have been revealed in previous studies, the complete spectrum of genetic changes of this tumor remains unknown. METHODS: In this study, we conducted whole genome sequencing (WGS) on twenty-six CPs including 16 ACPs and 10 PCPs together with their matched blood samples. Somatic variants (SNVs, InDels, SVs and CNVs) were identified and mutational signatures were characterized for each patient. We investigated the impact of a novel CTNNB1 mutant on its protein stability, ubiquitination and Wnt pathway activity. Cell proliferation ability of the CTNNB1 mutant in ACP primary cells was additionally analyzed by CCK8 and colony formation assays. RESULTS: We found that CPs had showed less complexity with fewer somatic mutations compared with malignant tumors. Moreover, mutations in CTNNB1 (68.75% of ACP) and BRAF V600E (70.00% of PCP) are mutually exclusive in ACP and PCP, consolidating that the driving roles of these two genes in ACP and PCP, respectively. A novel mutation in the exon 3 of CTNNB1 which compromised both a transversion and in-frame deletion was identified in ACP. This mutation was experimentally validated to confer ß-catenin increased stability by inhibiting its ubiquitination, thus activating Wnt-signaling pathway and promoting cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Whole genome landscape for CP was revealed by WGS analysis, and a novel mutation in the exon 3 of CTNNB1 was identified. This novel mutation activates Wnt-signaling pathway through increasing the stability of ß-catenin. Our findings provided us with more comprehensive insight into the spectrum of genetic alterations in CP.

Effects of Ionic Strength and Ion Specificity on the Interface Behavior of Poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-Poly(lauryl methacrylate).

The ion specificity effect on the water solubility of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-containing copolymers complies with the Hofmeister series, which is applicable to other copolymers or not need to be explored. In this work, effects of ionic strength under acidic conditions and ion specificity under alkaline conditions on the air/water interface behavior of two amphiphilic diblock copolymers poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)-poly(lauryl methacrylate) (PDMAEMA-PLMA) were systematically studied. Under acidic conditions, the surface pressure-area isotherms of a predominantly hydrophilic copolymer are insensitive to ionic strength. In contrast, the isotherms of a predominantly hydrophobic copolymer successively shift to the large, small, and large molecular area with the increase of ionic strength. Under alkaline conditions, the interfacial stretch degrees of PDMAEMA chains of two copolymers change with salt species and concentrations, which do not comply with the Hofmeister series. All of the Langmuir-Blodgett films of the former copolymer exhibit separate circular micelles. Nevertheless, those of the latter copolymer obtained under alkaline conditions exhibit various distinctive morphologies such as separate circular micelles, large separate PLMA cores within large PDMAEMA domains, and large PLMA domains/aggregates surrounded by short PDMAEMA shells. It can be attributed to the high deformability of PLMA chains, the ion specificity effect on the stretch degree of PDMAEMA blocks, and their underwater solubility upon compression.

Lab-on-fiber sensing system based on responsive Fabry-Perot optical resonance cavities prepared throughin situconstruction strategy.

For decades, lab-on-fiber (LOF) sensing systems have become an emerging optical sensing platform due to the features of small size and light weight. Herein, a simple and efficientin situconstruction strategy was reported for the preparation of LOF sensing platform based on the integration of responsive Fabry-Perot optical resonance cavity on optical fibers. The responsive Fabry-Perot optical resonance cavity with thermal poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) polymer brush layer sandwiched by two silver layers was constructed on the end surface of the optical fiber through combiningin situsurface-initiated polymerization and metal film deposition techniques. Owing to the thermo-responsiveness of the intermediate layer, the as-prepared LOF sensing system shows a sensitive response towards the environmental temperature. Importantly, the as-prepared LOF sensing system also possesses excellent repeatability and rapid response rate. Together with the features of high sensitivity, excellent repeatability and rapid response rate, we believe such LOF sensing system will provide a foundation for the future applications of medical diagnosis,in vivodetection and public security.

Prediction of the molecular mechanism of eucommiae Cortex - Achyranthis bidentatae radix in the treatment of osteoarthritis: network pharmacology and molecular docking.

OBJECTIVE: To retrieve the core drug of osteoarthritis in clinic using Data Mining, predict the drug molecular action target through the Network Pharmacology, identify the key nodes of the interaction by combining with the related targtes of osteoarthritis, explore the pharmacological mechanism of Traditional Chinese Medicine against osteoarthritis and other possible mechanisms of actions. METHODS: to retrieve the commonly used therapeutic formulations for osteoarthritis patients in clinical with PubMed, CNKI, VIP, CBM, Wan Fang Database and other databases, and screen out the core drugs through the Ancient and Modern Medical Case Cloud Platform and software Gephi, filter out the core drug molecules and targets combined with TCMSP database and the targets of osteoarthritis in Genecard and OMIM database, plunge those data into R project and Cytoscape to construct the intersection model of Drug molecule-osteoarthritis, establish PPI network and GO and conduct KEGG enrichment analysis with String database. Vina molecular docking was finally implemented to draw molecular docking diagram, and the results were analyzed after comprehensive analysis. RESULTS: The core drug pairs were identified as 'Eucommiae Cortex - Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix' through correlation analysis, complex network analysis based on the coefficient. 'Eucommiae Cortex - Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix' can intervene cell behavior through multiple pathways and regulate cell metabolism, cytokine synthesis, oxidative and cellular immunity with the help of topology analysis in String Database. CONCLUSIONS: The core molecules of Quercetin and Kaempferol derived from 'Eucommia bark - achyranthes' can change the spatial conformation of PTGSs by hydrogen bonding with PTGSs, the hydrophobic bonds and van der Waals forces generated by Baicalein, Wogonin and ß-carotene, thereby changing the activity of PTGSs and affecting bone properties the process of osteoarthritis.

Isoforms analysis of recombinant human erythropoietin by polarity-reversed capillary isoelectric focusing.

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhuEPO) has been extensively used as a pharmaceutical product for treating anemia in the clinic. Glycosylation of rhuEPO was crucial for affecting biological activity, immunogenicity, and pharmacokinetics. Because of the heterogeneity of glycan, the structure of rhuEPO was complex with several isoforms. Characterization of isoforms was important for quality control of rhuEPO. Here, an improved cIEF method has been established and validated. A polarity-reversed focusing step was used by reversing both the polarity of the voltage and the catholyte and anolyte vials. A weak base (100 mM ammonium hydroxide solution) was used as a chemical mobilizer to make the acidic bands mobilize stably to the detection window. Compared with CZE method in European Pharmacopoeia, the numbers of isoforms and their peak area percentage were highly consistent. Better reproducibility and higher resolution have been obtained by the improved cIEF method. Moreover, in improved cIEF method, the isoelectric points (pI) of each isoform can be calculated and used for identification. It was also the first time that the cIEF method was fully validated for rhuEPO analysis according to the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines.

Snake venom characteristic peptides: novel fingerprints for species identification by sheathless capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry.

Snake venom is a complex mixture mainly consisting of proteins and peptides which varies with different species. These variations lead to different toxic mechanisms and different anti-venom serums for treatment and the determination of their use as drugs. Hence, it is important to develop a sensitive and reliable method to identify the species of snakes from venoms. Herein, we present a novel strategy based on the sheathless capillary electrophoresis-electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (CESI-MS) system to characterize snake venom proteins. Through the determination of peptides, we found the characteristic peptides of 8 different snakes with high sensitivity (1 µg mL-1) and high selectivity, which provided a reliable method for the species identification and purity detection of snake venom samples.

A Flexible Polymer Nanofiber-Gold Nanoparticle Composite Film for Solar-Thermal Seawater Desalination.

Interfacial solar-thermal conversion has broad application prospects in solar driven steam generation, seawater desalination, sewage purification, and other fields. For a wide range of applications, high-efficiency interfacial solar-thermal conversion materials with the feature of being lightweight, flexible, and easy to scale up at the same time are significantly valued. Herein, a strategy for the preparation of solar-thermal poly (4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) nanofiber-gold nanoparticle (Au NP) composite film (PGCF) is reported. Combining with the flexible and lightweight P4VP nanofibers, these absorbed Au NPs enable better solar-thermal conversion efficiency. Accordingly, the PGCF provides high-performance interfacial solar-driven steam generation, with 77% solar-heat conversion efficiency under the power density of 3.4 kW m-2 , which shows stable output (3.4 kg m-2 h-1 ) in the application of solar-driven seawater desalination. In addition, PGCF is light in weight, flexible, and suitable for scalable commercial production, enabling PGCF broad application prospects in the field of light-to-heat conversion.

Different serum protein factor levels in first-episode drug-naive patients with schizophrenia characterized by positive and negative symptoms.

AIM: The clinical features of schizophrenia can be mainly divided into two symptom domains: positive and negative. Patients in each symptom domain respond differently to treatments, and their prognoses vary accordingly. Serum protein factors, such as nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), and the calcium-binding protein, S100ß, have been reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. However, their roles in the positive and negative symptom domains have not been determined. In this study, we investigated whether the serum levels of these five protein factors differed among first-episode drug-naive schizophrenia patients in each symptom domain and in healthy controls. METHODS: Double-antibody sandwich ELISA were used to quantify the amounts of the five protein factors in serum. RESULTS: Compared with the levels in the controls (n = 60), increased serum levels of IL-6, IL-1ß, and S100ß and decreased serum levels of NGF and NT-3 were observed in first-episode drug-naive schizophrenia patients. Additionally, the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-1ß were significantly higher in schizophrenia patients characterized by negative symptoms (negative group, n = 37) than in those characterized by positive symptoms (positive group, n = 46). Based on multivariate regression analyses, serum levels of IL-1ß were positively associated with the Negative Symptom subscore of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in the negative group and in all patients with schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: The two subtypes of schizophrenia may have different pathological mechanisms. Patients characterized by negative symptoms probably have more serious disturbances in neuroimmunology.

CXCL12/CXCR4 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas via PI3K/AKT signal pathway.

OBJECTIVES: Adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (adaCP) accounts for 5.6% to 15% of intracranial tumors. High expression of chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand 12 (CXCL12, also known as stromal cell-derived factor 1 [SDF1]) and its receptor CXC receptor type 4 (CXCR4) are widespread in various malignancy via multiple signal transduction pathways. This study aims to investigate the mechanism of CXCL12/CXCR4 promoting proliferation, migration, and invasion of adaCP. METHODS: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, Western blot analysis, and immunohistochemistry were used to evaluate the expression of CXCL12/CXCR4 mRNA and protein in 10 human adaCP tissues. Three successfully primary cell lines were obtained from native mainly solid tumor specimens, and confirmed by the means of inverted contrast microscope directly and following hematoxylin and eosin staining. Immunofluorescence was used to detect protein expression in vivo for the verification of primary cell line. Proliferation, migration, and invasion assays were performed to assess the biological functional role of CXCL12/CXCR4 in adaCP. The signal pathways involved in the action of CXCL12/CXCR4 in adaCP were also evaluated. RESULTS: CXCL12 and CXCR4 were highly expressed in human adaCP samples. Primary adaCP cells were isolated and detected by the means of immunofluorescence for the detection of pan cytokeratin (pan-CK) and vimentin (VIM). Overexpression of CXCL12/CXCR4 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration, and invasion of primary adaCP cells. Moreover, cancer-promoting activity of CXCL12/CXCR4 is partially through its facilitation of PI3K/AKT signal pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that CXCL12/CXCR4 promotes adaCP proliferation, migration, and invasion through PI3K/AKT signal pathway. These findings suggested that therapeutic strategies regulating CXCL12/CXCR4 expression may provide an effective treatment of adaCP.