Systematic Constructing FeOCl/BiVO4 Hetero-Interfacial Hybrid Photoanodes for Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting.

Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4), as a promising photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, suffers from poor charge separation efficiency and light absorption efficiency. Herein, iron oxychloride (FeOCl) is introduced as a novel cocatalyst simply grafted on BiVO4 to construct an integrated photoanode, enhancing PEC performance. The optimized FeOCl/BiVO4 photoanode exhibits a superior photocurrent density value of 5.23 mA cm-2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) under AM 1.5G illuminations. From experimental analysis, such high PEC performance is ascribed to the unique properties of FeOCl, facilitating charge transport, increasing light absorption efficiency, and promoting water oxidation kinetics. Density functional theory calculations further confirm that FeOCl optimizes the Gibbs free energy of H and O-containing intermediates (OOH*) during PEC processes, boosting the catalytic kinetics of PEC water splitting. This work presents FeOCl as a promising catalyst for constructing high efficient PEC water-splitting photoanodes.

Endogenous Interfacial Mo-C/N-Mo-S Bonding Regulates the Active Mo Sites for Maximized Li+ Storage Areal Capacity.

Active sites, mass loading, and Li-ion diffusion coefficient are the benchmarks for boosting the areal capacity and storage capability of electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. However, simultaneously modulating these criteria to achieve high areal capacity in LIBs remains challenging. Herein, MoS2 is considered as a suitable electroactive host material for reversible Li-ion storage and establish an endogenous multi-heterojunction strategy with interfacial Mo-C/N-Mo-S coordination bonding that enables the concurrent regulation of these benchmarks. This strategy involves architecting 3D integrated conductive nanostructured frameworks composed of Mo2C-MoN@MoS2 on carbon cloth (denoted as C/MMMS) and refining the sluggish kinetics in the MoS2-based anodes. Benefiting from the rich hetero-interface active sites, optimized Li adsorption energy, and low diffusion barrier, C/MMMS reaches a mass loading of 12.11 mg cm-2 and showcases high areal capacity and remarkable rate capability of 9.6 mAh cm-2@0.4 mA cm-2 and 2.7 mAh cm-2@6.0 mA cm-2, respectively, alongside excellent stability after 500 electrochemical cycles. Moreover, this work not only affirms the outstanding performance of the optimized C/MMMS as an anode material for supercapacitors, underscoring its bifunctionality but also offers valuable insight into developing endogenous transition metal compound electrodes with high mass loading for the next-generation high areal capacity energy storage devices.

Bafi A1 inhibits nano-copper oxide-induced mitochondrial damage by reducing the release of copper from lysosomes.

This study demonstrated that both copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO-NPs) and copper nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) can cause swelling, inflammation, and cause damage to the mitochondria of alveolar type II epithelial cells in mice. Cellular examinations indicated that both CuO-NPs and Cu-NPs can reduce cell viability and harm the mitochondria of human bronchial epithelial cells, particularly Beas-2B cells. However, it is clear that CuO-NPs exhibit a more pronounced detrimental effect compared with Cu-NPs. Using bafilomycin A1 (Bafi A1), an inhibitor of lysosomal acidification, was found to enhance cell viability and alleviate mitochondrial damage caused by CuO-NPs. Additionally, Bafi A1 also reduces the accumulation of dihydrolipoamide S-acetyltransferase (DLAT), a marker for mitochondrial protein toxicity, induced by CuO-NPs. This observation suggests that the toxicity of CuO-NPs depends on the distribution of copper particles within cells, a process facilitated by the acidic environment of lysosomes. The release of copper ions is thought to be triggered by the acidic conditions within lysosomes, which aligns with the lysosomal Trojan horse mechanism. However, this association does not seem to be evident with Cu-NPs.

Heteroleptic/Heterometallic Sierpinski Triangle with Room Temperature Fluorescence Emission and Photocatalytic Amine Oxidation Activity.

As a result of their optical and redox properties, bipyridyl (bpy) and terpyridyl (tpy) ruthenium complexes play vital roles in numerous domains. Herein, the design and synthesis of two bipyridyl and terpyridyl ruthenium(II) building units L1 and L2 are explained. A [Ru(bpy)3]2+ functionalized triangle S1 and a Sierpinski triangle S2 were synthesized in almost quantitative yields by the self-assembly of L1 with Zn2+ ions and by the heteroleptic self-assembly of L1 and L2 with Zn2+ ions, respectively. The Sierpinski triangle S2 contains the coordination metals [Ru(bpy)3]2+, [Ru(tpy)2]2+, and [Zn(tpy)2]2+. According to research on the catalytic activity of amine oxidation on supramolecules S1 and S2, the benzylamine substrates were nearly entirely transformed to N-benzylidenebenzylamine derivatives after 1 h under a Xe lamp. Furthermore, the observed ruthenium-containing terpyridyl supramolecule S2 maintains high luminous performance at ambient temperature. This discovery opens up new possibilities for the rational molecular design of terpyridyl ruthenium fluorescent materials and catalytic functional materials.

Effects of age-related changes in trunk and lower limb range of motion on gait.

BACKGROUND: The ability to walk is crucial for maintaining independence and a high quality of life among older adults. Although gait characteristics have been extensively studied in older adults, most studies have investigated muscle activity in the joints of the trunk or the lower limbs without assessing their interactions. Thus, the causes of altered trunk and lower limb movement patterns in older adults remain to explore. Therefore, this study compared the joint kinematic parameters of both trunk and lower limbs between young and older adults to identify kinematic factors associated with changes in gait among older adults. METHODS: In total, 64 older (32 males, aged 68.34 ± 7.38 years; 32 females, aged 67.16 ± 6.66 years) and 64 young (32 males, aged 19.44 ± 0.84 years; 32 females, aged 19.69 ± 0.86 years) healthy adults participated in this study. The range of motion (ROM) of the thorax, pelvis, and trunk in the horizontal plane and of the hip, knee, and ankle joints of the lower limbs in the sagittal plane were measured using a motion capture system with wearable sensors. Two-way analysis of variance assessed differences in ROM by group, sex, and spatio-temporal gait parameters; Pearson correlation analysis assessed the correlation of the trunk and lower limbs. RESULTS: Step length, gait speed, and stride length were greater in young adults (p < 0.001) than in older adults, but older women displayed the fastest gait speed (p < 0.05). ROM values for the pelvis, thorax, trunk, knee joint, and ankle joint of young adults were greater (p < 0.05) than those in older adults. However, hip ROM in older adults was significantly greater than that in young adults (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: With increasing age, ROM of the lower limbs, especially the ankle joint, decreased significantly, resulting in a significant decrease in gait speed. As ROM of the pelvis decreased, stride length decreased significantly in older adults, who compensate through thoracic rotation. Thus, older adults should enhance muscle strength and increase ROM to improve gait patterns.

In Situ Grown Co-Based Interstitial Compounds: Non-3d Metal and Non-Metal Dual Modulation Boosts Alkaline and Acidic Hydrogen Electrocatalysis.

Interfacial engineering and elemental doping are the two parameters to enhance the catalytic behavior of cobalt nitrides for the alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, simultaneously combining these two parameters to improve the HER catalytic properties of cobalt nitrides in alkaline media is rarely reported and also remains challenging in acidic media. Herein, it is demonstrated that high-valence non-3d metal and non-metal integration can simultaneously achieve Co-based nitride/oxide interstitial compound phase boundaries on stainless steel mesh (denoted Mo-Co5.47 N/N-CoO) for efficient HER in alkaline and acidic media. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the unique structure does not only realize multi-active sites, enhanced water dissociation kinetics, and low hydrogen adsorption free energy in alkaline media, but also enhances the positive charge density of hydrogen ions (H+ ) to effectively allow H+ to receive electrons from the catalysts surface toward promoting the HER in acidic media. As a result, the as-prepared Mo-Co5.47 N/N-CoO demands HER overpotential of -28 mV@10 mA cm-2 in an alkaline medium, and superior to the commercial Pt/C at a current density > 44 mA cm-2 in acidic medium. This work paves a useful strategy to design efficient cobalt-based electrocatalysts for HER and beyond.

Sub-Thick Electrodes with Enhanced Transport Kinetics via In Situ Epitaxial Heterogeneous Interfaces for High Areal-Capacity Lithium Ion Batteries.

The ever-growing portable electronics and electric vehicle draws the attention of scaling up of energy storage systems with high areal-capacity. The concept of thick electrode designs has been used to improve the active mass loading toward achieving high overall energy density. However, the poor rate capabilities of electrode material owing to increasing electrode thickness significantly affect the rapid transportation of ionic and electron diffusion kinetics. Herein, a new concept named "sub-thick electrodes" is successfully introduced to mitigate the Li-ion storage performance of electrodes. This is achieved by using commercial nickel foam (NF) to develop a monolithic 3D with rich in situ heterogeneous interfaces anode (Cu3 P-Ni2 P-NiO, denoted NF-CNNOP) to reinforce the adhesive force of the active materials on NF as well as contribute additional capacity to the electrode. The as-prepared NF-CNNOP electrode displays high reversible and rate areal capacities of 6.81 and 1.50 mAh cm-2 at 0.40 and 6.0 mA cm-2 , respectively. The enhanced Li-ion storage capability is attributed to the in situ interfacial engineering within the NiO, Ni2 P, and Cu3 P and the 3D consecutive electron conductive network. In addition, cyclic voltammetry, charge-discharge curves, and symmetric cell electrochemical impedance spectroscopy consistently reveal improved pseudocapacitance with enhanced transports kinetics in this sub-thick electrodes.

Bi3TaO7/Ti3C2 heterojunctions for enhanced photocatalytic removal of water-borne contaminants.

Novel catalysts are of great interest for improved photocatalytic environmental remediation. Using a hydrothermal method, 0D/2D Bi3TaO7/Ti3C2 heterojunctions were designed rationally and characterized systematically as excellent photocatalysts for photocatalytic degradation. The hybrid catalyst exhibits superior performance in visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (about 99% degradation efficiency after 2 h) and excellent stability (up to 10 cycles) under visible light irradiation (300 W Xe lamp; λ > 420 nm; light intensity 150 mW cm-2). In addition, Bi3TaO7/Ti3C2 has a larger rate constant (0.032 min-1) than pristine Bi3TaO7 (0.006 min-1). Quantum yield (2.27 × 10-5 molecules/photon) and figure of merit (23.3) of the system were obtained, suggesting that our catalyst has potential for application. Both experimental and computational results indicate that synergistic effects between Bi3TaO7 and Ti3C2 improve photocatalytic performance by enhancing electron-hole pair separation, electronic transmission efficiency, and interfacial charge transfer. These findings contribute to the synthesis of efficient visible-light-driven Bi-based photocatalysts and to the understanding of photocatalytic degradation reactions.

Freeing the Polarons to Facilitate Charge Transport in BiVO4 from Oxygen Vacancies with an Oxidative 2D Precursor.

The BiVO4 photoelectrochemical (PEC) electrode in tandem with a photovoltaic (PV) cell has shown great potential to become a compact and cost-efficient device for solar hydrogen generation. However, the PEC part is still facing problems such as the poor charge transport efficiency owing to the drag of oxygen vacancy bound polarons. In the present work, to effectively suppress oxygen vacancy formation, a new route has been developed to synthesize BiVO4 photoanodes by using a highly oxidative two-dimensional (2D) precursor, bismuth oxyiodate (BiOIO3 ), as an internal oxidant. With the reduced defects, namely the oxygen vacancies, the bound polarons were released, enabling a fast charge transport inside BiVO4 and doubling the performance in tandem devices based on the oxygen vacancy eliminated BiVO4 . This work is a new avenue for elaborately designing the precursor and breaking the limitation of charge transport for highly efficient PEC-PV solar fuel devices.

Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Oxygen Evolution Reaction Ability of Iron-Derived Hematite Photoanode with Titanium Modification.

A facile fabrication route towards a titanium-modified hematite photoanode has been developed, and the photoelectrochemical properties of this anode have been evaluated. Compared to pristine hematite, the activity of the modified photoanode in this work delivered almost twofold higher photocurrent under Air Mass 1.5G illumination. Further research revealed that the enhanced performance of the hematite photoanode with a titanium-modified surface resulted from the dominant impact of heterojunction formation and suppressed surface recombination, supplemented by a slightly improved light-harnessing ability.

Predicting Prenatal Depression and Assessing Model Bias Using Machine Learning Models.

Background: Perinatal depression is one of the most common medical complications during pregnancy and postpartum period, affecting 10% to 20% of pregnant individuals, with higher rates among Black and Latina women who are also less likely to be diagnosed and treated. Machine learning (ML) models based on electronic medical records (EMRs) have effectively predicted postpartum depression in middle-class White women but have rarely included sufficient proportions of racial/ethnic minorities, which has contributed to biases in ML models. Our goal is to determine whether ML models could predict depression in early pregnancy in racial/ethnic minority women by leveraging EMR data. Methods: We extracted EMRs from a large U.S. urban hospital serving mostly low-income Black and Hispanic women (n = 5875). Depressive symptom severity was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 self-report questionnaire. We investigated multiple ML classifiers using Shapley additive explanations for model interpretation and determined prediction bias with 4 metrics: disparate impact, equal opportunity difference, and equalized odds (standard deviations of true positives and false positives). Results: Although the best-performing ML model's (elastic net) performance was low (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.61), we identified known perinatal depression risk factors such as unplanned pregnancy and being single and underexplored factors such as self-reported pain, lower prenatal vitamin intake, asthma, carrying a male fetus, and lower platelet levels. Despite the sample comprising mostly low-income minority women (54% Black, 27% Latina), the model performed worse for these communities (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 57% Black, 59% Latina women vs. 64% White women). Conclusions: EMR-based ML models could moderately predict early pregnancy depression but exhibited biased performance against low-income minority women.

Perinatal depression affects 10% to 20% of pregnant individuals, with higher rates among racial/ethnic minorities who are underdiagnosed and undertreated. This study used machine learning models on electronic medical record data from a hospital serving mostly low-income Black and Hispanic women to predict early pregnancy depression. While the best model performed moderately well, it exhibited bias, predicting depression less accurately for Black and Latina women compared with White women. The study identified some known risk factors such as unplanned pregnancy and underexplored factors such as self-reported pain, lower prenatal vitamin intake, and carrying a male fetus that may contribute to perinatal depression.

Modulating built-in electric field via Bi-VO4-Fe interfacial bridges to enhance charge separation for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting.

Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting on semiconductor electrodes is considered to be one of the important ways to produce clean and sustainable hydrogen fuel, which is a great help in solving energy and environmental problems. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) as a promising photoanode for photoelectrochemical water splitting still suffers from poor charge separation efficiency and photo-induced self-corrosion. Herein, we develop heterojunction-rich photoanodes composed of BiVO4 and iron vanadate (FeVO4), coated with nickel iron oxide (NiFeOx/FeVO4/BiVO4). The formation of the interface between BiVO4 and FeVO4 (Bi-VO4-Fe bridges) enhances the interfacial interaction, resulting in improved performance. Meanwhile, high-conductivity FeVO4 and NiFeOx oxygen evolution co-catalysts effectively enhance bulk electron/hole separation, interface water's kinetics and photostability. Concurrently, the optimized NiFeOx/FeVO4/BiVO4 possesses a remarkable photocurrent density of 5.59 mA/cm2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs RHE) under AM 1.5G (Air Mass 1.5 Global) simulated sunlight, accompanied by superior stability without any decreased of its photocurrent density after 14 h. This work not only reveals the crucial role of built-in electric field in BiVO4-based photoanode during PEC water splitting, but also provides a new guide to the design of efficient photoanode for PEC.

Bi-cation incorporated Ni3N nanosheets boost water dissociation kinetics for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution activity.

Nickel nitride (Ni3N) is a promising electrocatalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) owing to its excellent metallic features and has been demonstrated to exhibit considerable activity for water oxidation. However, its undesirable characteristics as an HER electrocatalyst due to its poor unfavourable d-band energy level significantly limit its water dissociation kinetics. Herein, the HER electrocatalytic activity of Ni3N was prominently enhanced via the simultaneous incorporation of bi-cations (vanadium (V) and iron (Fe), denoted as V-Fe-Ni3N). The optimized V-Fe-Ni3N displays impressive performance with an overpotential of 69 mV at 10 mA cm-2 and good stability in 1.0 M KOH, which is remarkably better than pristine Ni3N, V-doped Ni3N, and Fe-doped Ni3N and considerably closer to a commercial Pt/C catalyst. Based on density functional theory (DFT) studies, V and Fe atoms not only serve as active sites for promoting water dissociation kinetics but also tune the electronic structure of Ni3N to achieve optimized hydrogen adsorption capabilities. This work presents an inclusive understanding of the rational designing of high-performance transition metal nitride-based electrocatalysts for hydrogen production. Its electrocatalytic performance can be significantly enhanced by doping transition metal cations.

Ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes stabilize the bcl-2 promoter quadruplex and induce apoptosis of Hela tumor cells.

In the present study, the interaction between GC-rich sequence of bcl-2 gene P1 promoter (Pu39) and two ruthenium (II) polypyridyl complexes, [Ru(bpy)2(tip)]²âº (1) and [Ru(phen)2(tip)]²âº (2), was investigated by UV-Visible, fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism, fluorescence resonance energy transfer melting assay and polymerase chain reaction stop assay. Those experimental results indicated that the two complexes can effectively stabilize the G-quadruplex of Pu39. It was found that the complex 2 exhibited greater cytotoxic activity than 1 against human Hela cells and can enter into Hela cells in a short period of time to effectively induce apoptosis of cells. Further experiments found that complexes 1 and 2 had as potent inhibitory effects on ECV-304 cell migration as suramin. Those noteworthy results provide new insights into the development of anticancer agents for targeting G-quadruplex DNA.

Phase Evolution on the Hydrogen Adsorption Kinetics of NiFe-Based Heterogeneous Catalysts for Efficient Water Electrolysis.

Transition metal layered double hydroxides, especially nickel-iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe-LDH) shows significant advancement as efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst but also plays a momentous role as a precursor for NiFe-based hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts. Herein, a simple strategy for developing Ni-Fe-derivative electrocatalysts via phase evolution of NiFe-LDH under controllable annealing temperatures in an argon atmosphere is reported. The optimized catalyst annealed at 340 o C (denoted NiO/FeNi3 ) exhibits superior HER properties with an ultralow overpotential of 16 mV@10 mA cm-2 . Density functional theory simulation and in situ Raman analyses reveal that the excellent HER properties of the NiO/FeNi3 can be attributed to the strong electronic interaction at the interface of the metallic FeNi3 and semiconducting NiO, which optimizes the H2 O and H adsorption energies for efficient HER and OER catalytic processes. This work will provide rational insights into the subsequent development of related HER electrocatalysts and other corresponding compounds via LDH-based precursors.

Efficient Self-Powered Overall Water Splitting by Ni4 Mo/MoO2 Heterogeneous Nanorods Trifunctional Electrocatalysts.

The exploration of cost-effective multifunctional electrodes with high activity toward energy storage and conversion systems, such as self-powered alkaline water electrolysis, is very meaningful, although studies remain quite limited. Herein, a heterogeneous nickel-molybdenum (NiMo)-based electrode is fabricated for the first time as a trifunctional electrode for asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC), hydrogen evolution reaction, and oxygen evolution reaction. The trifunctional electrode consists of Ni4 Mo and MoO2 (denoted Ni4 Mo/MoO2 ) with hierarchical nanorod heterostructure and abundant heterogeneous nanointerfaces creating sufficient active sites and efficient charge transfer for achieving high performance self-power electrochemical devices. The ASC consists of the as-prepared Ni4 Mo/MoO2 positive electrode, showing a broad potential window of 1.6 V, and a maximum energy density of 115.6 Wh kg-1 , while the alkaline overall water splitting (OWS) assembled using the as-prepared Ni4 Mo/MoO2 as bifunctional catalysts only requires a low cell voltage of 1.48 V to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm-2 in aqueous alkaline electrolyte. Finally, by integrating the Ni4 Mo/MoO2 -based ASC and OWS devices, an aqueous self-powered OWS is assembled, which self-power the OWS to generate hydrogen gas and oxygen gas, verifying great potential of the as-prepared Ni4 Mo/MoO2 for sustainable and renewable energy storage and conversion system.

Predicting prenatal depression and assessing model bias using machine learning models.

Perinatal depression (PND) is one of the most common medical complications during pregnancy and postpartum period, affecting 10-20% of pregnant individuals. Black and Latina women have higher rates of PND, yet they are less likely to be diagnosed and receive treatment. Machine learning (ML) models based on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have been effective in predicting postpartum depression in middle-class White women but have rarely included sufficient proportions of racial and ethnic minorities, which contributed to biases in ML models for minority women. Our goal is to determine whether ML models could serve to predict depression in early pregnancy in racial/ethnic minority women by leveraging EMR data. We extracted EMRs from a hospital in a large urban city that mostly served low-income Black and Hispanic women (N=5,875) in the U.S. Depressive symptom severity was assessed from a self-reported questionnaire, PHQ-9. We investigated multiple ML classifiers, used Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) for model interpretation, and determined model prediction bias with two metrics, Disparate Impact, and Equal Opportunity Difference. While ML model (Elastic Net) performance was low (ROCAUC=0.67), we identified well-known factors associated with PND, such as unplanned pregnancy and being single, as well as underexplored factors, such as self-report pain levels, lower levels of prenatal vitamin supplement intake, asthma, carrying a male fetus, and lower platelet levels blood. Our findings showed that despite being based on a sample mostly composed of 75% low-income minority women (54% Black and 27% Latina), the model performance was lower for these communities. In conclusion, ML models based on EMRs could moderately predict depression in early pregnancy, but their performance is biased against low-income minority women.

MED12 mutation activates the tryptophan/kynurenine/AHR pathway to promote growth of uterine leiomyomas.

Uterine leiomyomas cause heavy menstrual bleeding, anemia, and pregnancy loss in millions of women worldwide. Driver mutations in the transcriptional mediator complex subunit 12 (MED12) gene in uterine myometrial cells initiate 70% of leiomyomas that grow in a progesterone-dependent manner. We showed a distinct chromatin occupancy landscape of MED12 in mutant MED12 (mut-MED12) versus WT-MED12 leiomyomas. Integration of cistromic and transcriptomics data identified tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase (TDO2) as the top mut-MED12 target gene that was significantly upregulated in mut-MED12 leiomyomas when compared with adjacent myometrium and WT-MED12 leiomyomas. TDO2 catalyzes the conversion of tryptophan to kynurenine, an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) ligand that we confirmed to be significantly elevated in mut-MED12 leiomyomas. Treatment of primary mut-MED12 leiomyoma cells with tryptophan or kynurenine stimulated AHR nuclear translocation, increased proliferation, inhibited apoptosis, and induced AHR-target gene expression, whereas blocking the TDO2/kynurenine/AHR pathway by siRNA or pharmacological treatment abolished these effects. Progesterone receptors regulated the expression of AHR and its target genes. In vivo, TDO2 expression positively correlated with the expression of genes crucial for leiomyoma growth. In summary, activation of the TDO2/kynurenine/AHR pathway selectively in mut-MED12 leiomyomas promoted tumor growth and may inform the future development of targeted treatments and precision medicine.

Diet, Gut Microbiome, and Their End Metabolites Associate With Acute Pancreatitis Risk.

INTRODUCTION: Diet and decreased gut microbiome diversity has been associated with acute pancreatitis (AP) risk. However, differences in dietary intake, gut microbiome, and their impact on microbial end metabolites have not been studied in AP. We aimed to determine differences in (i) dietary intake (ii) gut microbiome diversity and sulfidogenic bacterial abundance, and (iii) serum short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) and hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) concentrations in AP and control subjects. METHODS: This case-control study recruited 54 AP and 46 control subjects during hospitalization. Clinical and diet data and stool and blood samples were collected. 16S rDNA sequencing was used to determine gut microbiome alpha diversity and composition. Serum SCFA and H 2 S levels were measured. Machine learning (ML) model was used to identify microbial targets associated with AP. RESULTS: AP patients had a decreased intake of vitamin D 3 , whole grains, fish, and beneficial eicosapentaenoic, docosapentaenoic, and docosahexaenoic acids. AP patients also had lower gut microbiome diversity ( P = 0.021) and a higher abundance of sulfidogenic bacteria including Veillonella sp. and Haemophilus sp., which were associated with AP risk. Serum acetate and H 2 S concentrations were significantly higher in the AP group ( P < 0.001 and P = 0.043, respectively). ML model had 96% predictive ability to distinguish AP patients from controls. DISCUSSION: AP patients have decreased beneficial nutrient intake and gut microbiome diversity. An increased abundance of H 2 S-producing genera in the AP and SCFA-producing genera in the control group and predictive ability of ML model to distinguish AP patients indicates that diet, gut microbiota, and their end metabolites play a key role in AP.

Influence of long-term participation in amateur sports on physical posture of teenagers.

Aim: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the influence of long-term participating in amateur sports on body posture of school students. Methods: A survey on sport participation was conducted on 1,658 volunteer students aged from 6 to 17 years in two primary schools and one meddle school in Tianjin city. The PA200LE body posture evaluation system and a SpineScanSH-115 electronic spine measuring instrument were used to assess the participants' body posture. According to the survey results and against the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 1,124 eligible participants were divided into seven sport participation groups and seven age-matched control groups for statistical comparisons. Results: Compared with the age-matched controls, the natural standing thoracic kyphosis angle of the swimming group (35.0 ± 9.5 VS 31.2 ± 8.5; t =  - 2.560; p = 0.011) and the football group (34.6 ± 7.2 VS 31.9 ± 7.5; t =  - 2.754; p = 0.006) were found to be significantly larger; the natural standing lumbar lordosis angle (-23.0 ± 11.0 VS -27.0 ± 11.1; t = 0.344; p = 0.024) and the upright sitting lumbar lordosis angle (-11.7 ± 8.4 VS -15.2 ± 12.3; t = 5.738; p = 0.030) of the swimming group was significantly smaller; the upright sitting thoracic kyphosis angle of the running group (25.1 ± 9.3 VS 22.6 ± 9.9; t =  - 1.970; p = 0.050) was significantly larger; the upright sitting thoracic kyphosis angle (23.9 ± 8.9 VS 27.0 ± 7.6; t = 2.096; p = 0.038), the learning position thoracic kyphosis angle (31.0 ± 8.6 VS 37.1 ± 8.9; t = 3.076; p = 0.003), the shoulder level (-1.3 ± 2.1 VS 0.0 ± 2.5; t = 2.389; p = 0.019) and waist level (-1.2 ± 1.7 VS -0.3 ± 1.7; t = 2.511; p = 0.013) of the table tennis group were significantly smaller. Conclusions: The results showed that long-term participation in recreational sports training had an impact on the physical posture of adolescents.