Origin, loss, and regain of self-incompatibility in angiosperms.

The self-incompatibility (SI) system with the broadest taxonomic distribution in angiosperms is based on multiple S-locus F-box genes (SLFs) tightly linked to an S-RNase termed type-1. Multiple SLFs collaborate to detoxify nonself S-RNases while being unable to detoxify self S-RNases. However, it is unclear how such a system evolved, because in an ancestral system with a single SLF, many nonself S-RNases would not be detoxified, giving low cross-fertilization rates. In addition, how the system has been maintained in the face of whole-genome duplications (WGDs) or lost in other lineages remains unclear. Here we show that SLFs from a broad range of species can detoxify S-RNases from Petunia with a high detoxification probability, suggestive of an ancestral feature enabling cross-fertilization and subsequently modified as additional SLFs evolved. We further show, based on its genomic signatures, that type-1 was likely maintained in many lineages, despite WGD, through deletion of duplicate S-loci. In other lineages, SI was lost either through S-locus deletions or by retaining duplications. Two deletion lineages regained SI through type-2 (Brassicaceae) or type-4 (Primulaceae), and one duplication lineage through type-3 (Papaveraceae) mechanisms. Thus, our results reveal a highly dynamic process behind the origin, maintenance, loss, and regain of SI.

Individuality and ethnicity eclipse a short-term dietary intervention in shaping microbiomes and viromes.

Many diseases linked with ethnic health disparities associate with changes in microbial communities in the United States, but the causes and persistence of ethnicity-associated microbiome variation are not understood. For instance, microbiome studies that strictly control for diet across ethnically diverse populations are lacking. Here, we performed multiomic profiling over a 9-day period that included a 4-day controlled vegetarian diet intervention in a defined geographic location across 36 healthy Black and White females of similar age, weight, habitual diets, and health status. We demonstrate that individuality and ethnicity account for roughly 70% to 88% and 2% to 10% of taxonomic variation, respectively, eclipsing the effects a short-term diet intervention in shaping gut and oral microbiomes and gut viromes. Persistent variation between ethnicities occurs for microbial and viral taxa and various metagenomic functions, including several gut KEGG orthologs, oral carbohydrate active enzyme categories, cluster of orthologous groups of proteins, and antibiotic-resistant gene categories. In contrast to the gut and oral microbiome data, the urine and plasma metabolites tend to decouple from ethnicity and more strongly associate with diet. These longitudinal, multiomic profiles paired with a dietary intervention illuminate previously unrecognized associations of ethnicity with metagenomic and viromic features across body sites and cohorts within a single geographic location, highlighting the importance of accounting for human microbiome variation in research, health determinants, and eventual therapies. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03314194.

Divergent roles of estrogen receptor subtypes in regulating estrogen-modulated colonic ion transports and epithelial repair.

Although it was described previously for estrogen (E2) regulation of intestinal epithelial Cl- and HCO3- secretion in sex difference, almost nothing is known about the roles of estrogen receptor (ER) subtypes in regulating E2-modulated epithelial ion transports and epithelial restitution. Here, we aimed to investigate ERα and ERß subtypes in the regulation of E2-modulated colonic epithelial HCO3- and Cl- secretion and epithelial restitution. Through physiological and biochemical studies, in combination of genetic knockdown, we showed that ERα attenuated female colonic Cl- secretion but promoted Ca2+-dependent HCO3- secretion via store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) mechanism in mice. However, ERß attenuated HCO3- secretion by inhibiting Ca2+via the SOCE and inhibiting cAMP via protein kinases. Moreover, ERα but not ERß promoted epithelial cell restitution via SOCE/Ca2+ signaling. ERα also enhanced cyclin D1, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and ß-catenin expression in normal human colonic epithelial cells. All ERα-mediated biological effects could be attenuated by its selective antagonist and genetic knockdown. Finally, both ERα and ERß were expressed in human colonic epithelial cells and mouse colonic tissues. We therefore conclude that E2 modulates complex colonic epithelial HCO3- and Cl- secretion via ER subtype-dependent mechanisms and that ERα is specifically responsible for colonic epithelial regeneration. This study provides novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of how ERα and ERß subtypes orchestrate functional homeostasis of normal colonic epithelial cells.

A Fully Automated Online Enrichment and Separation System for Highly Reproducible and In-Depth Analysis of Intact Glycopeptide.

A fully automated online enrichment and separation system for intact glycopeptides, named AutoGP, was developed in this study by integrating three different columns in a nano-LC system. Specifically, the peptide mixture from the enzymatic digestion of a complex biological sample was first loaded on a hydrophilic interaction chromatography (HILIC) column. The nonglycopeptides in the sample were washed off the column, and the glycopeptides retained by the HILIC column were eluted to a C18 trap column to achieve an automated glycopeptide enrichment. The enriched glycopeptides were further eluted to a C18 column for separation, and the separated glycopeptides were eventually analyzed by using an orbitrap mass spectrometer (MS). The optimal operating conditions for AutoGP were systemically studied, and the performance of the fully optimized AutoGP was compared with a conventional manual system used for glycopeptide analysis. The experimental evaluation shows that the total number of glycopeptides identified is at least 1.5-fold higher, and the median coefficient of variation for the analyses is at least 50% lower by using AutoGP, as compared to the results acquired by using the manual system. In addition, AutoGP can perform effective analysis even with a 1-µg sample amount, while a 10-µg sample at least will be needed by the manual system, implying an order of magnitude better sensitivity of AutoGP. All the experimental results have consistently proven that AutoGP can be used for much better characterization of intact glycopeptides.

Unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation with low-dose anti-thymocyte globulin for children with severe aplastic anemia: A case series.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the prognosis of unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) using low-dose anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) in children diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). METHODS: This retrospective case series study was conducted involving pediatric SAA patients treated at the Capital Institute of Pediatrics from January 2020 to February 2023. All patients underwent a reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimen alongside low-dose ATG. RESULTS: The study comprised nine patients (five males) with a median age of 5 years (range: 1.7 to 7 years). The median follow-up duration was 799 days (range: 367 to 1481 days), during which all patients survived. The median time interval from diagnosis to transplantation was 3 months (range: 1 to 9 months). The median dosage of ATG administered was 5 mg/kg (range: 2.5 to 7.5 mg/kg). The median durations for granulocyte and platelet engraftment were 15 days (range: 12 to 23 days) and 26 days (range: 12 to 41 days), respectively. Three patients experienced grade 2-4 acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD). Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation was observed in three patients, while cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation occurred in seven patients, with no cases of CMV disease or post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). One patient experienced recurrence 15 months after transplantation due to influenza A infection. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that SAA patients may attain a favorable prognosis following UCBT with a RIC regimen combined with low-dose ATG.

Radial basis function neural network optimization algorithm based on dynamic inertial weight particle swarm optimization for separating overlapping peaks in ion mobility spectrometry.

RATIONALE: Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS), as a promising analytical tool, has been widely employed in the structural characterization of biomolecules. Nevertheless, the inherent limitation in the structural resolution of IMS frequently results in peak overlap during the analysis of isomers exhibiting comparable structures. METHODS: The radial basis function (RBF) neural network optimization algorithm based on dynamic inertial weight particle swarm optimization (DIWPSO) was proposed for separating overlapping peaks in IMS. The RBF network structure and parameters were optimized using the DIWPSO algorithm. By extensively training using a large dataset, an adaptive model was developed to effectively separate overlapping peaks in IMS data. This approach successfully overcomes issues related to local optima, ensuring efficient and precise separation of overlapping peaks. RESULTS: The method's performance was evaluated using experimental validation and analysis of overlapping peaks in the IMS spectra of two sets of isomers: 3'/6'-sialyllactose; fructose-6-phosphate, glucose-1-phosphate, and glucose-6-phosphate. A comparative analysis was conducted using other algorithms, including the sparrow search algorithm, DIWPSO algorithm, and multi-objective dynamic teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm. The comparison results show that the DIWPSO-RBF algorithm achieved remarkably low maximum relative errors of only 0.42%, 0.092%, and 0.41% for ion height, mobility, and half peak width, respectively. These error rates are significantly lower than those obtained using the other three algorithms. CONCLUSIONS: The experimental results convincingly demonstrate that this method can adaptively, rapidly, and accurately separate overlapping peaks of multiple components, improving the structural resolution of IMS.

Electron ionization mass spectrometry feature peak relationships combined with deep classification model to assist similarity algorithm for fast and accurate identification of compounds.

RATIONALE: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combines chromatography and MS, providing full play to the advantages of high separation efficiency of GC, strong qualitative ability of MS, and high sensitivity of detector. In GC-MS data processing, determining the experimental compounds is one of the most important analytical steps, which is usually realized by one-to-one similarity calculations between the experimental mass spectrum and the standard mass spectrum library. Although the accuracy of the algorithm has been improved in recent years, it is still difficult to distinguish structurally similar mass spectra, especially isomers. At the same time, the library capacity is very large and increasing every year, and the algorithm needs to perform large numbers of calculations with irrelevant compounds in the library to recognize unknown compounds, which leads to a significant reduction in efficiency. METHODS: This work proposed to exclude a large number of irrelevant mass spectra by presearching, perform preliminary similarity calculations using similarity algorithms, and finally improve the accuracy of similarity calculations using deep classification models. The replica library of NIST17 is used as the query data, and the master library is used as the reference database. RESULTS: Compared with the traditional recognition algorithm, the preprocessing algorithm has reduced the time by 4.2 h, and by adding the deep learning models 1 and 2 as the final determination, the recognition accuracy has been improved by 1.9% and 6.5%, respectively, based on the original algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: This method improves the recognition efficiency compared to conventional algorithms and at the same time has better recognition accuracy for structurally similar mass spectra and isomers.

An efficient strategy with a synergistic effect of hydrophilic and electrostatic interactions for simultaneous enrichment of N- and O-glycopeptides.

N- and O-glycosylation modifications of proteins are closely linked to the onset and development of many diseases and have gained widespread attention as potential targets for therapy and diagnosis. However, the low abundance and low ionization efficiency of glycopeptides as well as the high heterogeneity make glycosylation analysis challenging. Here, an enrichment strategy, using Knoevenagel copolymers modified with polydopamine-adenosine (denoted as PDA-ADE@KCP), was firstly proposed for simultaneous enrichment of N- and O-glycopeptides through the synergistic effects of hydrophilic and electrostatic interactions. The adjustable charged surface and hydrophilic properties endow the material with the capability to achieve effective enrichment of intact N- and O-glycopeptides. The experimental results exhibited excellent selectivity (1 : 5000) and sensitivity (0.1 fmol µL-1) of the prepared material for N-glycopeptides from standard protein digest samples. Moreover, it was further applied to simultaneous capturing of N- and O-glycopeptides from mouse liver protein digests. Compared to the commercially available zwitterionic hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (ZIC-HILIC) material, the number of glycoproteins corresponding to all N- and O-glycopeptides enriched with PDA-ADE@KCP was much more than that with ZIC-HILIC. Furthermore, PDA-ADE@KCP captured more O-glycopeptides than ZIC-HILIC, revealing its superior performance in O-glycopeptide enrichment. All these results indicated that the strategy holds immense potential in characterizing N- and O-intact glycopeptides in the field of proteomics.

Prediction of neoplastic gallbladder polyps in patients with different age level based on preoperative ultrasound: a multi-center retrospective real-world study.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of neoplastic polyps in gallbladder polyps (GPs) increases sharply with age and is associated with gallbladder carcinoma (GBC). This study aims to predict neoplastic polyps and provide appropriate treatment strategies based on preoperative ultrasound features in patients with different age level. METHODS: According to the age classification of WHO, 1523 patients with GPs who underwent cholecystectomy from January 2015 to December 2019 at 11 tertiary hospitals in China were divided into young adults group (n=622), middle-aged group (n=665) and elderly group (n=236). Linear scoring models were established based on independent risk variables screened by the Logistic regression model in different age groups. The area under ROC (AUC) to evaluate the predictive ability of linear scoring models, long- and short- diameter of GPs. RESULTS: Independent risk factors for neoplastic polyps included the number of polyps, polyp size (long diameter), and fundus in the young adults and elderly groups, while the number of polyps, polyp size (long diameter), and polyp size (short diameter) in the middle-aged groups. In different age groups, the AUCs of its linear scoring model were higher than the AUCs of the long- and short- diameter of GPs for differentiating neoplastic and non-neoplastic polyps (all P<0.05), and Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test showed that the prediction accuracy of the linear scoring models was higher than the long- and short- diameter of GPs (all P>0.05). CONCLUSION: The linear scoring models of the young adults, middle-aged and elderly groups can effectively distinguish neoplastic polyps from non-neoplastic polyps based on preoperative ultrasound features.

Donkey-like kirkovirus is associated with diarrhea in piglets.

Kirkovirus (kirV), a seemingly novel virus family, has been found in horses and donkeys. The study's objectives are to investigate the presence of the virus in swine. In this study, donkey-like kirV was detected in rectal swabs of piglets with diarrhea, and the positive rate was found to be 100% (149/149). However, this virus was detected in only one of 261 clinically healthy piglets, which suggested a strong relationship between the kirV and the diarrheic disease. We obtained the whole-genome sequences of three kirVs (Cj-D5, Cj-D32, and Cj-D43), with a length of 3750 nucleotides (nt) and sharing 99.9% nt identity with donkey kirVs. Furthermore, the three viruses shared 88.5-100% and 23-51% of the Rep protein sequence, similar to available reference strains of Kirkoviridae and Circoviridae, respectively. Moreover, like horse and donkey kirVs, the RCR domain and P-loop NTPase domains of Rep protein and nonanucleotide motif (CAATATTAC) of the three viruses were similar to those of Circoviruses and Cycloviruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed that these viruses could be grouped with members in the proposed family Kirkoviridae. This is the first report to describe that kirV can circulate in piglets with diarrhea, and future studies are needed to determine the pathogenesis of this virus.

Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectra by Improved Parallel Factor Analysis with Internal Standard Sample Embedding.

The strategy of parallel factor analysis, combined with the internal standard method, has been increasingly applied to the qualitative and quantitative analysis of three-dimensional fluorescence spectra of unknown mixed fluorophores. Nevertheless, the disparity in the number of fluorophores included in the internal standard sample set and the number included in test samples may impact the qualitative and quantitative outcomes of parallel factor analysis. In this work, we systematically established the framework of the parallel factor analysis with internal standard sample embedding (ISSE-PARAFAC) strategy. We applied this framework to six datasets representing two scenarios and a real dataset and conducted a detailed discussion on the effects of the disparity between the number of fluorophores in the internal standard sample set and the number in the test set on both qualitative and quantitative results. Additionally, we introduced an enhancement to PARAFAC by aggregating fluorophores with similar emission wavelengths, corresponding to the peaks of emission loadings (spectra) obtained from PARAFAC, as a single fluorophore. This aggregation aimed to mitigate the strong correlation between similar fluorophores. The results imply that the presence of irrelevant fluorophores in the internal standard sample set, whether increased or decreased, does not significantly affect the qualitative and quantitative analysis of target fluorophores in the test set. Moreover, we demonstrated that the improved parallel factor analysis with internal standard sample embedding not only fully decomposes the uncorrelated mixed fluorophores for qualitative analysis but also allows the established linear concentration model for fluorescent components to predict the corresponding fluorophore concentration of test samples, enabling quantitative analysis at the ppm level (mg/L).

C/EBPα alleviates hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress via HDAC1-mediated deacetylation of ATF4.

Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is a complex systemic process causing a series clinical problem. C/EBPα is a key transcription factor for hepatocyte function, but its role and mechanism in regulating hepatic IR injury are largely unknown. Occluding portal vein and hepatic artery was used to establish a mouse model of hepatic IR injury. C/EBPα expression was decreased in IR-injured liver compared with the sham, accompanied by increased contents of serum alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), high mobility group box-1, and proportion of hepatic cells. Oxygen and glucose deprivation/recovery (OGD/R) was used to establish a cellular hepatic IR model in WRL-68 hepatocytes in vitro, and C/EBPα was overexpressed in the hepatocytes to evaluate its effect on hepatic IR injury. OGD/R promoted oxidative stress, cell apoptosis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress in hepatocytes, which was reversed by C/EBPα overexpression. Then, we found that C/EBPα promoted histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) transcription through binding to HDAC1 promoter. Moreover, HDAC1 deacetylated the activating transcription factor 4 (ATF4), a key positive regulator of ER stress. Trichostatin-A (an HDAC inhibitor) or ATF4 overexpression reversed the improvement of C/EBPα on OGD/R-induced ER stress and hepatocyte dysfunction. 4-Phenylbutyric acid (an endoplasmic reticulum stress inhibitor) also reversed the hepatic IR injury induced by ATF4 overexpression. Finally, lentivirus-mediated C/EBPα overexpression vector was applied to administrate hepatic IR mice, and the results showed that C/EBPα overexpression ameliorated IR-induced hepatic injury, manifesting with reduced ALT/AST, oxidative stress and ER stress. Altogether, our findings suggested that C/EBPα ameliorated hepatic IR injury by inhibiting ER stress via HDAC1-mediated deacetylation of ATF4 promoter.

SNHG1, interacting with SND1, contributes to sorafenib resistance of liver cancer cells by increasing m6A-mediated SLC7A11 expression and promoting aerobic glycolysis.

Aerobic glycolysis plays an important role in multidrug resistance of cancer cells. Here, we screened different expressed lncRNAs associated with sorafenib resistance of liver cancer cells, by intersecting the bioinformatics analyses of TCGA and GEO (the GSE62813 dataset) databases. Our results revealed that the 18 upregulated lncRNAs in the intersection are associated with and enriched in metabolism of small molecule organic acids, suggesting their potential in glycolysis. The lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 1 (Snhg1) was chosen as a potential regulator of aerobic glycolysis in liver cancer cells, for its significant promotion on lactate production. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments mediated by Crispr-Cas9 technique in HepG2 cells indicated that Snhg1 promoted cell proliferation, invasion, sorafenib resistance, and aerobic glycolysis. In the mechanism exploration, we found that Snhg1 can interact with SND1 protein, a famous RNA binding protein and recently identified "Reader" of N6-methyladenosine (m6A). SND1 was demonstrated to be positively regulated by Snhg1 and had similar promoting effects on proliferation, invasion, sorafenib resistance, and aerobic glycolysis of HepG2 cells. SND1 bound with and promoted the expression of SLC7A11, an aerobic glycolysis regulator. Furthermore, either silencing SLC7A11 or blocking aerobic glycolysis with 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) was able to reverse the promotion of Snhg1 overexpression on malignancy, sorafenib resistance, and aerobic glycolysis of HepG2 cells. Finally, in a liver cancer xenograft mouse model, we found that formed tumors with Snhg1-knocked-down HepG2 cells were more sensitive to sorafenib administration. Altogether, SNHG1 contributes to sorafenib resistance of liver cancer cells by promoting SND1-m6A-SLC7A11-mediated aerobic glycolysis.

Enhancing Reversibility and Stability of Mg Metal Anodes: High-Exposure (002) Facets and Nanosheet Arrays for Superior Mg Plating/Stripping.

Magnesium metal batteries (MMBs), recognized as promising contenders for post-lithium battery technologies, face challenges such as uneven magnesium (Mg) plating and stripping behaviors, leading to uncontrollable dendrite growth and irreversible structural damage. Herein, we have developed a Mg foil featuring prominently exposed (002) facets and an architecture of nanosheet arrays (termed (002)-Mg), created through a one-step acid etching method. Specifically, the prominent exposure of Mg (002) facets, known for their inherently low surface and adsorption energies with Mg atoms, not only facilitates smooth nucleation and dense deposition but also significantly mitigates side reactions on the Mg anode. Moreover, the nanosheet arrays on the surface evenly distribute the electric field and Mg ion flux, enhancing Mg ion transfer kinetics. As a result, the fabricated (002)-Mg electrodes exhibit unprecedented long-cycle performance, lasting over 6000 h (> 8 months) at a current density of 3 mA cm-2 for a capacity of 3 mAh cm-2. Furthermore, the corresponding pouch cells equipped with various electrolytes and cathodes demonstrate remarkable capacity and cycling stability, highlighting the superior electrochemical compatibility of the (002)-Mg electrode. This study provides new insights into the advancement of durable MMBs by modifying the crystal structure and morphology of Mg.

Intrahepatic macrophage reprogramming associated with lipid metabolism in hepatitis B virus-related acute-on-chronic liver failure.

BACKGROUND: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is a severe syndrome with high short-term mortality, but the pathophysiology still remains largely unknown. Immune dysregulation and metabolic disorders contribute to the progression of ACLF, but the crosstalk between immunity and metabolism during ACLF is less understood. This study aims to depict the immune microenvironment in the liver during ACLF, and explore the role of lipid metabolic disorder on immunity. METHODS: Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed using the liver non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy controls, cirrhosis patients and ACLF patients. A series of inflammation-related cytokines and chemokines were detected using liver and plasma samples. The lipid metabolomics targeted free fatty acids (FFAs) in the liver was also detected. RESULTS: The scRNA-seq analysis of liver NPCs showed a significant increase of monocytes/macrophages (Mono/Mac) infiltration in ACLF livers, whereas the resident Kupffer cells (KCs) were exhausted. A characterized TREM2+ Mono/Mac subpopulation was identified in ACLF, and showed immunosuppressive function. Combined with the scRNA-seq data from PBMCs, the pseudotime analysis revealed that the TREM2+ Mono/Mac were differentiated from the peripheral monocytes and correlated with lipid metabolism-related genes including APOE, APOC1, FABP5 and TREM2. The targeted lipid metabolomics proved the accumulation of unsaturated FFAs associated with α-linolenic acid (α-LA) and α-LA metabolism and beta oxidation of very long chain fatty acids in the ACLF livers, indicating that unsaturated FFAs might promote the differentiation of TREM2+ Mono/Mac during ACLF. CONCLUSIONS: The reprogramming of macrophages was found in the liver during ACLF. The immunosuppressive TREM2+ macrophages were enriched in the ACLF liver and contributed to the immunosuppressive hepatic microenvironment. The accumulation of unsaturated FFAs in the ACLF liver promoted the reprogramming of the macrophages. It might be a potential target to improve the immune deficiency of ACLF patients through regulating lipid metabolism.

Laser lift-off mechanism and optical-electric characteristics of red Micro-LED devices.

The removal of a sapphire substrate by laser lift-off, photoluminescence detection technology, and the luminous efficiency of size-dependent devices are very hot issues for the Micro-LED display, which is thoroughly studied in this paper. The mechanism of thermal decomposition of the organic adhesive layer after laser irradiation is analyzed in detail, and the thermal decomposition temperature of 450 °C solved by the established one-dimensional model is highly consistent with the inherent decomposition temperature of the PI material. The spectral intensity of PL is higher, and the peak wavelength is red-shifted by about 2 nm compared to EL under the same excitation condition. The results of size-dependent device optical-electric characteristics show that the smaller the device size, the lower the luminous efficiency under the same display resolution and PPI conditions, and the higher corresponding display power consumption.

Electro-optic tunable optical filter based on long-period waveguide grating in lithium niobate on insulator with absorption ribbons.

We propose an electro-optic tunable optical filter based on sidewall long period waveguide grating (LPWG) in lithium niobate on insolator (LNOI). The operation of our proposed filter is based on the mode coupling, filtering, and absorption achieved, respectively, with two corrugated sidewall LPWGs, a tapered waveguide, and two metal ribbons. Our typical fabricated devices achieved a 16.32-dB rejection band and an EO tuning efficiency of ∼0.344 nm/V. Our proposed LPWG and filter are compact and could be integrated with other LNOI waveguide devices to realize more sophisticated functions for on-chip optical signal processing.

Evaluation of humoral and cellular immune responses induced by a cocktail of recombinant African swine fever virus antigens fused with OprI in domestic pigs.

BACKGROUND: African swine fever (ASF) is a highly fatal disease in domestic pigs caused by ASF virus (ASFV), for which there is currently no commercial vaccine available. The genome of ASFV encodes more than 150 proteins, some of which have been included in subunit vaccines but only induce limited protection against ASFV challenge. METHODS: To enhance immune responses induced by ASFV proteins, we expressed and purified three fusion proteins with each consisting of bacterial lipoprotein OprI, 2 different ASFV proteins/epitopes and a universal CD4+ T cell epitope, namely OprI-p30-modified p54-TT, OprI-p72 epitopes-truncated pE248R-TT, and OprI-truncated CD2v-truncated pEP153R-TT. The immunostimulatory activity of these recombinant proteins was first assessed on dendritic cells. Then, humoral and cellular immunity induced by these three OprI-fused proteins cocktail formulated with ISA206 adjuvant (O-Ags-T formulation) were assessed in pigs. RESULTS: The OprI-fused proteins activated dendritic cells with elevated secretion of proinflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, the O-Ags-T formulation elicited a high level of antigen-specific IgG responses and interferon-γ-secreting CD4+ and CD8+ T cells after stimulation in vitro. Importantly, the sera and peripheral blood mononuclear cells from pigs vaccinated with the O-Ags-T formulation respectively reduced ASFV infection in vitro by 82.8% and 92.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the OprI-fused proteins cocktail formulated with ISA206 adjuvant induces robust ASFV-specific humoral and cellular immune responses in pigs. Our study provides valuable information for the further development of subunit vaccines against ASF.

Characteristics of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with different stages of schistosomiasis japonica.

Immune cells are important for the development of schistosomiasis japonica and are also critical for the treatment of schistosomiasis. The immune cells in the peripheral blood help assess the immune state. The peripheral lymphocytes in schistosomiasis mansoni were well studied; however, immune cells in patients with different stages of schistosomiasis japonica are not well analysed. Here, we performed a preliminary study to explore characteristics of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with different stages of schistosomiasis japonica. 135 patients with Schistosoma japonicum infection and 25 healthy volunteers were included in this study, including 84 patients with chronic S. japonicum infection and 51 patients with advanced S. japonicum infection. Flow cytometry analysis was performed to evaluate peripheral lymphocytes including T cells, B cells, and natural killer (NK) cells. Blood routine and liver function test data were analysed. Ultrasound examination was used to access liver fibrosis according to the World Health Organization standard about ultrasound in schistosomiasis. Demographic data analysis suggested there was no difference in age and gender in patients with S. japonicum infection and health control group. Liver function tests showed that patients with advanced schistosomiasis had a higher incidence of liver function abnormality and blood lipid than those with chronic schistosomiasis. Blood routine results reflected that haemoglobin, red blood cells, platelets, as well as lymphocytes in the advanced group were significantly less than that in the chronic group. Furthermore, flow cytometry analysis indicated that the percentage of CD4+ T cells was lower in the advanced group, but the percentage of CD19+ B cells was higher in the advanced group. In addition, the number of CD3+ T cells, CD3+ CD4+ T cells, CD3+ CD8+ T cells, and NK cells was less in the advanced group when compared with those in the chronic group. In addition, there was a correlation between the decrease in CD4+ T cells and more severe fibrosis on ultrasound images. Our results indicated that the immune state in the peripheral is different in different stages of S. japonicum infection. Lymphocyte subset analysis has potential to facilitate differential diagnosis of different stages of schistosomiasis japonica and even to be a prognostic factor.

Two-step particle swarm optimization algorithm for effective deconvolution and resolution enhancement of various overlapping peaks.

RATIONALE: The existing particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms are only effective in deconvoluting the overlapping peaks in ion mobility spectra with fewer than four component peaks, which limits the applicability of these algorithms. METHODS: A high-performance two-step particle swarm optimization (TSPSO) algorithm was developed. Compared to the existing PSO algorithms, TSPSO can narrow the search ranges of all coefficients for the overlapping peaks through Gaussian model calculation, and thus can deconvolute various overlapping peaks with high accuracy, even for 30-component overlapping peaks. In addition, the TSPSO could be further applied to enhance the resolution of the spectra by narrowing the peak widths after the peak deconvolution. RESULTS: Simulated overlapping peaks were first used to evaluate the performance of TSPSO as compared to the dynamic inertia weight particle swarm optimization (DIWPSO) algorithm. The results showed that the profiles of the peaks deconvoluted by using TSPSO were more consistent with the original ones. The fitness values and the standard deviations of the fitness values from TSPSO were also at least an order of magnitude less than those from DIWPSO. By applying TSPSO, the overlapping peaks from both mass spectrometry (MS) and field asymmetric waveform ion mobility spectrometry (FAIMS) spectra can also be well deconvoluted. In addition, the resolutions of the MS and FAIMS spectra can be effectively enhanced after peak deconvolution. The enhanced spectra matched excellently with the experimental ones acquired at high-resolution modes. CONCLUSIONS: The experiment results convincingly demonstrate that the TSPSO algorithm is capable of both deconvoluting complex overlapping peaks and enhancing the spectrum resolution with high accuracy.