Structure of GPR101-Gs enables identification of ligands with rejuvenating potential.

GPR101 is an orphan G protein-coupled receptor actively participating in energy homeostasis. Here we report the cryo-electron microscopy structure of GPR101 constitutively coupled to Gs heterotrimer, which reveals unique features of GPR101, including the interaction of extracellular loop 2 within the 7TM bundle, a hydrophobic chain packing-mediated activation mechanism and the structural basis of disease-related mutants. Importantly, a side pocket is identified in GPR101 that facilitates in silico screening to identify four small-molecule agonists, including AA-14. The structure of AA-14-GPR101-Gs provides direct evidence of the AA-14 binding at the side pocket. Functionally, AA-14 partially restores the functions of GH/IGF-1 axis and exhibits several rejuvenating effects in wild-type mice, which are abrogated in Gpr101-deficient mice. In summary, we provide a structural basis for the constitutive activity of GPR101. The structure-facilitated identification of GPR101 agonists and functional analysis suggest that targeting this orphan receptor has rejuvenating potential.

An Azulene-Based Crystalline Porous Covalent Organic Framework for Efficient Photothermal Conversion.

The designed synthesis of a crystalline azulene-based covalent organic framework (COF-Azu-TP) is presented and its photothermal property is investigated. Azulene, a distinctive 5-7 fused ring non-benzenoid aromatic compound with a large intramolecular dipole moment and unique photophysical characteristics, is introduced as the key feature in COF-Azu-TP. The incorporation of azulene moiety imparts COF-Azu-TP with broad-spectrum light absorption capability and interlayer dipole interactions, which makes COF-Azu-TP a highly efficient photothermal conversion material. Its polyurethane (PU) composite exhibits a solar-to-vapor conversion efficiency (97.2%) and displays a water evaporation rate (1.43 kg m-2 h-1) under one sun irradiation, even at a very low dosage of COF-Azu-TP (2.2 wt%). Furthermore, COF-Azu-TP is utilized as a filler in a polylactic acid (PLA)/polycaprolactone (PCL) composited shape memory material, enabling rapid shape recovery under laser stimulation. A comparison study with a naphthalene-based COF isomer further emphasizes the crucial role of azulene in enhancing photothermal conversion efficiency. This study demonstrates the significance of incorporating specific building blocks into COFs for the development of functional porous materials with enhanced properties, paving the way for future applications in diverse fields.

Intra- and Peri-tumoral Radiomics Based on Dynamic Contrast Enhanced-MRI to Identify Lymph Node Metastasis and Prognosis in Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) affects treatment strategies and prognosis. However, preoperative imaging is not reliable enough for identifying LNM. PURPOSE: To develop and validate a radiomics nomogram based on dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE)-MR images for identifying LNM and prognosis in iCCA. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. SUBJECTS: Two hundred four patients with pathologically proven iCCA who underwent curative-intent resection and lymphadenectomy (training cohort: N = 107, internal test cohort: N = 46, and external test cohort: N = 51). FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: T1- and T2-weighted imaging, diffusion-weighted imaging and DCE imaging at 1.5 T or 3.0 T. ASSESSMENT: Radiomics features were extracted from intra- and peri-tumoral regions on preoperative DCE-MR images. Imaging features were evaluated by three radiologists, and significant variables in univariable and multivariable regression analysis were included in clinical model. The best-performing radiomics signature and clinical characteristics (intrahepatic duct dilatation, MRI-reported LNM) were combined to build a nomogram. Patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups based on their nomogram scores (cutoff = 0.341). Patients were followed up for 1-102 months (median 12) after surgery, the overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were calculated. STATISTICAL TESTS: Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calibration, decision curve, Delong test, Kaplan-Meier curves, log rank test. Two tailed P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The nomogram incorporating intra- and peri-tumoral radiomics features, intrahepatic duct dilatation and MRI-reported LNM obtained the best discrimination for LNM, with areas under the ROC curves of 0.946, 0.913, and 0.859 in the training, internal, and external test cohorts. In the entire cohort, high-risk patients had significantly lower RFS and OS than low-risk patients. High-risk of LNM was an independent factor of unfavorable OS and RFS. DATA CONCLUSION: The nomogram integrating intra- and peri-tumoral radiomics signatures has potential to identify LNM and prognosis in iCCA. EVIDENCE LEVEL: 3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

Fatal swine acute diarrhoea syndrome caused by an HKU2-related coronavirus of bat origin.

Cross-species transmission of viruses from wildlife animal reservoirs poses a marked threat to human and animal health 1 . Bats have been recognized as one of the most important reservoirs for emerging viruses and the transmission of a coronavirus that originated in bats to humans via intermediate hosts was responsible for the high-impact emerging zoonosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 2-10 . Here we provide virological, epidemiological, evolutionary and experimental evidence that a novel HKU2-related bat coronavirus, swine acute diarrhoea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), is the aetiological agent that was responsible for a large-scale outbreak of fatal disease in pigs in China that has caused the death of 24,693 piglets across four farms. Notably, the outbreak began in Guangdong province in the vicinity of the origin of the SARS pandemic. Furthermore, we identified SADS-related CoVs with 96-98% sequence identity in 9.8% (58 out of 591) of anal swabs collected from bats in Guangdong province during 2013-2016, predominantly in horseshoe bats (Rhinolophus spp.) that are known reservoirs of SARS-related CoVs. We found that there were striking similarities between the SADS and SARS outbreaks in geographical, temporal, ecological and aetiological settings. This study highlights the importance of identifying coronavirus diversity and distribution in bats to mitigate future outbreaks that could threaten livestock, public health and economic growth.

Transcription-coupled donor DNA expression increases homologous recombination for efficient genome editing.

Genomes can be edited by homologous recombination stimulated by CRISPR/Cas9 [clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated peptide 9]-induced DNA double-strand breaks. However, this approach is inefficient for inserting or deleting long fragments in mammalian cells. Here, we describe a simple genome-editing method, termed transcription-coupled Cas9-mediated editing (TEd), that can achieve higher efficiencies than canonical Cas9-mediated editing (CEd) in deleting genomic fragments, inserting/replacing large DNA fragments and introducing point mutations into mammalian cell lines. We also found that the transcription on DNA templates is crucial for the promotion of homology-directed repair, and that tethering transcripts from TEd donors to targeted sites further improves editing efficiency. The superior efficiency of TEd for the insertion and deletion of long DNA fragments expands the applications of CRISPR for editing mammalian genomes.

Low muscle density in children with osteogenesis imperfecta using opportunistic low-dose chest CT: a case-control study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate the muscle differences in children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) using opportunistic low-dose chest CT and to compare different methods for the segmentation of muscle in children. METHODS: This single center retrospective study enrolled children with OI and controls undergoing opportunistic low-dose chest CT obtained during the COVID pandemic. From the CT images, muscle size (cross-sectional area) and density (mean Hounsfield Units [HU]) of the trunk muscles were measured at the mid-T4 and the mid-T10 level using two methods, the fixed thresholds and the Gaussian mixture model. The Bland-Altman method was also used to compute the strength of agreement between two methods. Comparison of muscle results between OI and controls were analyzed with Student t tests. RESULTS: 20 children with OI (mean age, 9.1 ± 3.3 years, 15 males) and 40 age- and sex-matched controls were enrolled. Mean differences between two methods were good. Children with OI had lower T4 and T10 muscle density than controls measured by the fixed thresholds (41.2 HU vs. 48.0 HU, p < 0.01; 37.3 HU vs. 45.9 HU, p < 0.01). However, children with OI had lower T4 muscle size, T4 muscle density, T10 muscle size and T10 muscle density than controls measured by the Gaussian mixture model (110.9 vs. 127.2 cm2, p = 0.03; 44.6 HU vs. 51.3 HU, p < 0.01; 72.6 vs. 88.0 cm2, p = 0.01; 41.6 HU vs. 50.3 HU, p < 0.01, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Children with OI had lower trunk muscle density indicating that OI might also impair muscle quality. Moreover, the fixed thresholds may not be suitable for segmentation of muscle in children.

The impact of mindfulness therapy combined with mentalization-based family therapy on suicidal ideation in adolescents with depressive disorder: randomized intervention study.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents with depression who engage in non-suicidal self harming behaviors are more likely to adopt negative coping strategies when faced with negative events. Therefore, these patients should be introduced to positive coping strategies. Evidences have showed that mindfulness-based interventions can positively impact the psychology of patients with mental disorders. This study was to explore the impact of a combination of mindfulness therapy and mentalization-based family therapy (MBFT) on suicidal ideation in adolescents with depressive disorder. METHODS: Eighty adolescent patients with depression and suicidal ideation admitted to our hospital from September 2021 to February 2022 were selected as subjects. They were divided into a control group and a study group using the random number table method, with each group comprising 40 subjects. The control group received MBFT, whereas the study group received both mindfulness therapy and MBFT. The psychological status and suicidal ideations of the two groups were compared before and after the intervention. RESULTS: The psychological health scores of both groups of patients were lower after the intervention, with the scores of the study group being lower than those of the control group (P < 0.05). The scores on the suicidal ideation scales for both groups were lower after intervention, and the study group scored lower than the control group (P < 0.05). The absolute values of the differences in psychological health scale scores and suicidal ideation scale scores before and after the intervention were higher in the study group than in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The combination of mindfulness therapy and MBFT can improve the psychological condition of adolescents with depression, reduce their suicidal ideations, and help them develop a healthy and positive outlook toward life, making this method worthy of clinical recommendation.

Research on Classification Algorithm of Silicon Single-Crystal Growth Temperature Gradient Trend Based on Multi-Level Feature Fusion.

In the process of silicon single-crystal preparation, the timely identification and adjustment of abnormal conditions are crucial. Failure to promptly detect and resolve issues may result in a substandard silicon crystal product quality or even crystal pulling failure. Therefore, the early identification of abnormal furnace conditions is essential for ensuring the preparation of perfect silicon single crystals. Additionally, since the thermal field is the fundamental driving force for stable crystal growth and the primary assurance of crystal quality, this paper proposes a silicon single-crystal growth temperature gradient trend classification algorithm based on multi-level feature fusion. The aim is to accurately identify temperature gradient changes during silicon crystal growth, in order to promptly react to early growth failures and ensure the stable growth of high-quality silicon single crystals to meet industrial production requirements. The algorithm first divides the temperature gradient trend into reasonable categories based on expert knowledge and qualitative analysis methods. Then, it fuses the original features of actual production data, shallow features extracted based on statistical information, and deep features extracted through deep learning. During the fusion process, the algorithm considers the impact of different features on the target variable and calculates mutual information based on the difference between information entropy and conditional entropy, ultimately using mutual information for feature weighting. Subsequently, the fused multi-level feature vectors and their corresponding trend labels are input into a Deep Belief Network (DBN) model to capture process dynamics and classify trend changes. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can effectively predict the changing trend of thermal field temperature gradients. The introduction of this algorithm will help improve the accuracy of fault trend prediction in silicon single-crystal preparation, thereby minimizing product quality issues and production interruptions caused by abnormal conditions.

Synthesis of sinomenine derivatives with potential anti-leukemia activity.

In recent years, with sinomenine hydrochloride as the main ingredient, Qingfengteng had been formulated as various dosage forms for clinical treatment. Subsequent findings confirmed a variety of biological roles for sinomenine. Here, 15 H2S-donating sinomenine derivatives were synthesized. Target hybrids a11 displayed substantial cytotoxic effects on cancer cell lines, particularly against K562 cells, with an IC50 value of 1.36 µM. In-depth studies demonstrated that a11 arrested cell cycle at G1 phase, induced apoptosis via both morphological changes in nucleus and membrane potential collapse in mitochondria. These results indicated a11 exerted an antiproliferative effect through apoptosis induction via mitochondrial pathway.

Rhodium-Catalyzed Direct ortho-Arylation of Anilines.

An efficient and broadly applicable rhodium-catalyzed direct ortho-arylation of anilines with aryl iodides relying on readily available aminophosphines as traceless directing groups is reported. Its scope and functional group compatibility were both found to be quite broad as a large variety of both aminophosphines and (hetero)aryl iodides, including complex ones, could be utilized. The ortho-arylated anilines could be obtained in high average yields, without any competing diarylation and with full regioselectivity, which constitutes a major step forward compared to other processes. The reaction is moreover not limited to aryl iodides, as an aryl bromide and a triflate could be successfully used, and could be extended to diarylation. Mechanistic studies revealed the key and unique role of the aminophosphine, acting not only as a substrate but also as a ligand for the rhodium catalyst.

Role of lipocalin 2 in stroke.

Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide; however, the treatment choices available to neurologists are limited in clinical practice. Lipocalin 2 (LCN2) is a secreted protein, belonging to the lipocalin superfamily, with multiple biological functions in mediating innate immune response, inflammatory response, iron-homeostasis, cell migration and differentiation, energy metabolism, and other processes in the body. LCN2 is expressed at low levels in the brain under normal physiological conditions, but its expression is significantly up-regulated in multiple acute stimulations and chronic pathologies. An up-regulation of LCN2 has been found in the blood/cerebrospinal fluid of patients with ischemic/hemorrhagic stroke, and could serve as a potential biomarker for the prediction of the severity of acute stroke. LCN2 activates reactive astrocytes and microglia, promotes neutrophil infiltration, amplifies post-stroke inflammation, promotes blood-brain barrier disruption, white matter injury, and neuronal death. Moreover, LCN2 is involved in brain injury induced by thrombin and erythrocyte lysates, as well as microvascular thrombosis after hemorrhage. In this paper, we review the role of LCN2 in the pathological processes of ischemic stroke; intracerebral hemorrhage; subarachnoid hemorrhage; and stroke-related brain diseases, such as vascular dementia and post-stroke depression, and their underlying mechanisms. We hope that this review will help elucidate the value of LCN2 as a therapeutic target in stroke.

Mouse nerve growth factor suppresses neuronal apoptosis in valproic acid-induced autism spectrum disorder rats by regulating the phosphoinositide-3-kinase/serine/threonine kinase signaling pathway.

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in social communication and restrictive behaviors. Mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF), a neurotrophic factor, is critical for neuronal growth and survival, and the mNGF treatment is considered a promising therapy for neurodegeneration. In light of this, we aimed to evaluate the effect of mNGF on neurological function in ASD. METHODS: An ASD rat model was established by intraperitoneal injection of valproic acid (VPA). Social behavior, learning, and memory of the rats were measured. TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-end labeling and Nissl assays were performed to detect neuronal apoptosis and survival in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Apoptosis-related proteins and oxidative stress markers were detected. RESULTS: mNGF improved locomotor activity, exploratory behavior, social interaction, and spatial learning and memory in VPA-induced ASD rats. In the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, mNGF suppressed neuronal apoptosis, increased the number of neurons, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione levels, and decreased reactive oxygen species, nitric oxide, TNF-α, and IL-1ß levels compared with the VPA group. In addition, mNGF increased the levels of Bcl-2, p-phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K), and p-serine/threonine kinase (Akt), and decreased the levels of Bax and cleaved caspase-3, while the PI3K inhibitor LY294002 reversed these effects. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that mNGF suppressed neuronal apoptosis and ameliorated the abnormal behaviors in VPA-induced ASD rats, in part, by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Prognostic value of LI-RADS category on MRI in patients with primary hepatic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical and MRI features of primary hepatic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) categorized as LR-M or LR-4/5 using the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) version 2018 and to determine the prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival (RFS). METHODS: In this retrospective study, 37 patients with surgically confirmed LELC were included. Two independent observers evaluated preoperative MRI features according to the LI-RADS version 2018. Clinical and imaging features were compared between two groups. RFS and the associated factors were evaluated using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and log-rank test. RESULTS: In total, 37 patients (mean age, 58.5 ± 10.3 years) were evaluated. Sixteen (43.2%) LELCs were categorized as LR-M and twenty-one (56.8%) LELCs were categorized as LR-4/5. In the multivariate analysis, the LR-M category was an independent factor for RFS (HR 7.908, 95% CI 1.170-53.437; p = 0.033). RFS rates were significantly lower in patients with LR-M LELCs than in patients with LR-4/5 LELCs (5-year RFS rate, 43.8% vs.85.7%; p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The LI-RADS category was significantly associated with postsurgical prognosis of LELC, with tumor categorized as LR-M having a worse RFS than those categorized as LR-4/5. KEY POINTS: • Lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma patients categorized as LR-M have worse recurrence-free survival than those categorized as LR-4/5. • MRI-based LI-RADS categorization was an independent factor for postoperative prognosis of primary hepatic lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma.

Heel bone mineral density and various oral diseases: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization.

INTRODUCTION: Observational studies demonstrated that the relationship between bone mineral density and oral diseases is mixed. To access the association between heel bone mineral density and various oral diseases, we conducted the Mendelian randomization analysis to explore the association. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two-sample bidirectional Mendelian analysis was used to explore the relationship between heel bone mineral density and various oral diseases. The inverse-variance weighted (IVW) was used as the primary effect estimate, and various methods were applied to test the reliability and stability of the results, namely MR-Egger, weighted median, simple mode, and weighted mode. RESULTS: This study showed that there was a negative relationship between heel BMD and periodontitis when heel BMD was used as an exposure factor and periodontitis as an outcome factor (IVW OR = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.75-0.95; p = 0.005). Bidirectional Mendelian randomization showed that there was no statistically significant association between periodontitis and heel bone mineral density when chronic periodontitis was the exposure factor (p > 0.05). And there was no significant relationship between heel bone mineral density and other oral diseases (dental caries, diseases of pulp and periapical tissues, impacted teeth, cleft lip, and cleft palate, oral and oropharyngeal cancer) (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study showed that there was a negative relationship between heel bone density and periodontitis, and the decrease in heel bone density could promote the occurrence of periodontitis. In addition, there was no statistically significant relationship between heel bone density and other oral diseases.

A Meta-Analysis on the Impact of Prenatal and Early Childhood Antimicrobial Use on Autism Spectrum Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of prenatal and early childhood antimicrobial use on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed and Embase databases for relevant studies from inception to August 2022. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Peer-reviewed, observational studies were all acceptable. Raw data were extracted into a predefined worksheet and quality analysis was performed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. DATA SYNTHESIS: Nineteen studies were identified in the meta-analysis. Prenatal antimicrobial exposure was not associated with ASD (P = 0.06 > 0.05), whereas early childhood antimicrobial exposure was associated with an increased odds ratio of ASD (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = [1.08-1.27], P value < 0.001). The sibling-matched analysis, with a very limited sample size, suggested that neither prenatal (P = 0.47 > 0.05) nor early childhood (P = 0.13 > 0.05) antimicrobial exposure was associated with ASD. Medical professionals may need to take the possible association into consideration when prescribing an antimicrobial in children. CONCLUSIONS: Early childhood antimicrobial exposure could increase the incidence of ASD. In future studies, it would be necessary to control for confounding factors, such as genetic factors, parenteral age at birth, or low birthweight, to further validate the association.

Design, synthesis and antifungal activity of novel amide derivatives containing a pyrrolidine moiety as potential succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors.

To discover new succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors (SDHI) fungicides, a series of amide derivatives containing a pyrrolidine moiety were designed and synthesized, and their antifungal activities were evaluated against Monilinia fructicola (M. fructicola), Rhizoctonia solani (R. solani), Fusarium graminearum schw (F. graminearum), Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum), and Phytophthora infestans (P. infestans). Some compounds showed excellent antifungal activities against the five fungi. Among them, compound 6 showed broad-spectrum inhibitory activities. The EC50 of compound 6 against M. fructicola, R. solani, F. graminearum, F. oxysporum, and P. infestans were 2.13, 14.42, 1.69, 27.79, and 27.12 mg/L, respectively. In addition, compound 6 can effectively inhibit the spore germination of M. fructicola and has moderate damage to the cell membrane. Compound 6 can effectively inhibit succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) of M. fructicola, and can significantly increase the expression levels of SDHC and SDHD. Compound 6 can be used as a lead structure for developing new SDH inhibitors.

Deep learning-based automatic sella turcica segmentation and morphology measurement in X-ray images.

BACKGROUND: Although the morphological changes of sella turcica have been drawing increasing attention, the acquirement of linear parameters of sella turcica relies on manual measurement. Manual measurement is laborious, time-consuming, and may introduce subjective bias. This paper aims to develop and evaluate a deep learning-based model for automatic segmentation and measurement of sella turcica in cephalometric radiographs. METHODS: 1129 images were used to develop a deep learning-based segmentation network for automatic sella turcica segmentation. Besides, 50 images were used to test the generalization ability of the model. The performance of the segmented network was evaluated by the dice coefficient. Images in the test datasets were segmented by the trained segmentation network, and the segmentation results were saved in binary images. Then the extremum points and corner points were detected by calling the function in the OpenCV library to obtain the coordinates of the four landmarks of the sella turcica. Finally, the length, diameter, and depth of the sella turcica can be obtained by calculating the distance between the two points and the distance from the point to the straight line. Meanwhile, images were measured manually using Digimizer. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and Bland-Altman plots were used to analyze the consistency between automatic and manual measurements to evaluate the reliability of the proposed methodology. RESULTS: The dice coefficient of the segmentation network is 92.84%. For the measurement of sella turcica, there is excellent agreement between the automatic measurement and the manual measurement. In Test1, the ICCs of length, diameter and depth are 0.954, 0.953, and 0.912, respectively. In Test2, ICCs of length, diameter and depth are 0.906, 0.921, and 0.915, respectively. In addition, Bland-Altman plots showed the excellent reliability of the automated measurement method, with the majority measurements differences falling within ± 1.96 SDs intervals around the mean difference and no bias was apparent. CONCLUSIONS: Our experimental results indicated that the proposed methodology could complete the automatic segmentation of the sella turcica efficiently, and reliably predict the length, diameter, and depth of the sella turcica. Moreover, the proposed method has generalization ability according to its excellent performance on Test2.

Design, synthesis, antibacterial activity, and mechanism of novel resveratrol derivatives containing an 1,3,4-oxadiazole moiety.

Rice bacterial diseases seriously threaten the development of rice industry in the world, and chemical control is still one of the effective means to control it. To find novel antibacterial agents, 42 resveratrol derivatives were designed and synthesized based on natural product resveratrol as lead structure, and their antibacterial activities were evaluated. Most compounds have excellent antibacterial activities. Among them, the EC50 values of compound B1 against Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc) were 4.76 and 8.85 mg/L, respectively. The curative activities of compound B1 against bacterial leaf blight and bacterial leaf streak were 45.57 and 38.40%, and the protective activities were 49.41 and 35.93%, respectively. In addition, compound B1 could change bacterial cell surface morphology by inhibiting biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide production, and increasing membrane permeability, thereby affecting the normal growth of bacteria. Furthermore, transcriptome analysis showed that differential expressed genes were mainly enriched in plant-pathogen interaction pathway and MAPK signaling pathway-plant after compound B1 treated susceptible rice. We will further optimize the structure of compound B1 in future work to find more efficient antibacterial agents.

TCHis mitigate oxidative stress and improve abnormal behavior in a prenatal valproic acid-exposed rat model of autism.

Troxerutin is known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects in nerve impairment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of troxerutin and cerebroprotein hydrolysate injections (TCHis) on prenatal valproic acid (VPA)-exposed rats. The VPA was administered to pregnant rats on gestational day 12.5 to induce a model of autism. The offspring were given the treatment of TCHis on postnatal day (PND) 21-50. On PND 43-50, the behavioral analysis of offspring was performed after the treatment of TCHis for 1 h. On PND 50, the offspring were harvested and the brains were collected. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex were isolated for relevant biochemical detections. The administration of TCHis increased pain sensitivity and improved abnormal social behaviors in prenatal VPA-exposed rats. Prenatal exposure of VPA induced neuronal loss and apoptosis, enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and promoted oxidative stress in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, whereas these effects were reversed by the postnatal treatment of TCHis. In addition, postnatal administration of TCHis ameliorated mitochondrial function in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of prenatal VPA-exposed rats. This study concluded that postnatal treatment of TCHis reduced oxidative stress and ameliorated abnormal behavior in a prenatal VPA-induced rat model of autism.

CircUBE2Q2 promotes differentiation of cattle muscle stem cells and is a potential regulatory molecule of skeletal muscle development.

BACKGROUND: The growth and development of muscle stem cells (MuSCs) are significant events known to affect muscle plasticity, disease, meat production, and meat quality, which involves the types and functions of mRNA and non-coding RNA. Here, MuSCs were cultured from Guangxi fetal cattle. RNA sequencing was used to analyze the RNA expression of mRNA and non-coding RNAs during the cell proliferation and differentiation phases. RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred forty-eight mRNAs and 888 non-coding RNAs were differentially expressed between cell proliferation and differentiation phases, including 113 miRNAs, 662 lncRNAs, and 113 circRNAs. RT-qPCR verified the differential expression levels of mRNAs and non-coding RNAs, and the differentially expressed circUBE2Q2 was subsequently characterized. Expression profile analysis revealed that circUBE2Q2 was abundant in muscle tissues and intramuscular fat. The expression of cricUBE2Q2 was also significantly upregulated during MuSCs myogenic differentiation and SVFs adipogenic differentiation and decreased with age in cattle muscle tissue. Finally, the molecular mechanism of circUBE2Q2 regulating MuSCs function that affects skeletal muscle development was investigated. The results showed that circUBE2Q2 could serve as a sponge for miR-133a, significantly promoting differentiation and apoptosis of cultured MuSCs, and inhibiting proliferation of MuSCs. CONCLUSIONS: CircUBE2Q2 is associated with muscle growth and development and induces MuSCs myogenic differentiation through sponging miR-133a. This study will provide new clues for the mechanisms by which mRNAs and non-coding RNAs regulate skeletal muscle growth and development, affecting muscle quality and diseases.