TFAP2A is involved in neuropathic pain by regulating Grin1 expression in glial cells of the dorsal root ganglion.

Neuropathic pain is a highly prevalent and refractory condition, yet its mechanism remains poorly understood. While NR1, the essential subunit of NMDA receptors, has long been recognized for its pivotal role in nociceptive transmission, its involvement in presynaptic stimulation is incompletely elucidated. Transcription factors can regulate the expression of both pro-nociceptive and analgesic factors. Our study shows that transcription factor TFAP2A was up-regulated in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, satellite glial cells (SGCs), and Schwann cells following spinal nerve ligation (SNL). Intrathecal injection of siRNA targeting Tfap2a immediately or 7 days after SNL effectively alleviated SNL-induced pain hypersensitivity and reduced Tfap2a expression levels. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that TFAP2A may regulate the expression of the Grin1 gene, which encodes NR1. Dual-luciferase reporter assays confirmed TFAP2A's positive regulation of Grin1 expression. Notably, both Tfap2a and Grin1 were expressed in the primary SGCs and upregulated by lipopolysaccharides. The expression of Grin1 was also down-regulated in the DRG following Tfap2a knockdown. Furthermore, intrathecal injection of siRNA targeting Grin1 immediately or 7 days post-SNL effectively alleviated SNL-induced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia. Finally, intrathecal Tfap2a siRNA alleviated SNL-induced neuronal hypersensitivity, and incubation of primary SGCs with Tfap2a siRNA decreased NMDA-induced upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines. Collectively, our study reveals the role of TFAP2A-Grin1 in regulating neuropathic pain in peripheral glia, offering a new strategy for the development of novel analgesics.

Recent advance for animal-derived polysaccharides in nanomaterials.

Inspired by the structure characteristics of natural products, the size and morphology of particles are carefully controlled using a bottom-up approach to construct nanomaterials with specific spatial unit distribution. Animal polysaccharide nanomaterials, such as chitosan and chondroitin sulfate nanomaterials, exhibit excellent biocompatibility, degradability, customizable surface properties, and novel physical and chemical properties. These nanomaterials hold great potential for development in achieving a sustainable bio-economy. This paper provides a summary of the latest research results on the preparation of nanomaterials from animal polysaccharides. The mechanism for preparing nanomaterials through the bottom-up method from different sources of animal polysaccharides is introduced. Furthermore, this paper discusses the potential hazards posed by industrial applications to the environment and human health, as well as the challenges and future prospects associated with using animal polysaccharides in nanomaterials.

Identification and Validation of a Novel Anoikis-Related Gene Signature for Predicting Survival in Patients With Serous Ovarian Cancer.

Background: Ovarian cancer is an extremely deadly gynecological malignancy, with a 5-year survival rate below 30%. Among the different histological subtypes, serous ovarian cancer (SOC) is the most common. Anoikis significantly contributes to the progression of ovarian cancer. Therefore, identifying an anoikis-related signature that can serve as potential prognostic predictors for SOC is of great significance. Methods: We intersected 308 anoikis-related genes (ARGs) and identified those significantly associated with SOC prognosis using univariate Cox regression. A LASSO Cox regression model was constructed and evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses in TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) and GSE26193 cohorts. We conducted quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to assess mRNA levels and applied bioinformatics to investigate the correlation between risk groups and gene expression, mutations, pathways, tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and drug sensitivity in SOC. Results: Among 308 ARGs, 28 were significantly associated with SOC prognosis. A 13-gene prognostic model was established through LASSO Cox regression in TCGA cohort. High-risk group had poorer prognosis than low-risk group (median overall survival (mOS): 34.2 vs. 57.1 months, hazard ratio (HR): 2.590, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.159 - 6.00, P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.63, 0.65, and 0.74 reflected the predictive performance for 3-, 5-, and 8-year overall survival (OS) in GSE26193 validation cohort. Functional enrichment, pathway analysis, and TIME analysis identified distinct characteristics between risk groups. Drug sensitivity analysis revealed potential drug advantages for each group. Furthermore, qPCR validation once again confirmed the effectiveness of the risk model in SOC patients. Conclusions: We developed and validated a robust ARG model, which could be used to predict OS in SOC patients. By systematically analyzing the correlation between the risk score of the ARGs signature model and various patterns, including the TIME and drug sensitivity, our findings suggest that this prognostic model contributes to the advancement of personalized and precise therapeutic strategies. Nevertheless, further validation studies and investigations into the underlying mechanisms are warranted.

The effect of emotion regulation on empathic ability in Chinese nursing students: The parallel mediating role of emotional intelligence and self-consistency congruence.

AIM: This study aims to explore the influence of emotion regulation on empathic ability among undergraduate nursing students, as well as the mediating role of emotional intelligence and self-consistency congruence. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was employed to examine the relationship between the emotion regulation and empathic ability in Chinese nursing students. METHODS: A total of 761 undergraduate nursing students were surveyed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Chinese version), the Gross Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, Wang and Law's Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Self-Harmony Scale. RESULTS: There was a significant positive correlation between emotion regulation, empathic ability and self-harmony. Significant positive correlations were also found between emotion regulation, empathic ability and emotional intelligence. Mediation analysis revealed that self-harmony and emotional intelligence partially mediated the predictive relationship between emotion regulation and empathic ability, with self-harmony showing a more significant mediating effect. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that emotion regulation among undergraduate nursing students indirectly influences their empathic ability through parallel mediating effects of self-harmony and emotional intelligence.

Nerve Injury-Induced γH2AX Reduction in Primary Sensory Neurons Is Involved in Neuropathic Pain Processing.

Phosphorylation of the serine 139 of the histone variant H2AX (γH2AX) is a DNA damage marker that regulates DNA damage response and various diseases. However, whether γH2AX is involved in neuropathic pain is still unclear. We found the expression of γH2AX and H2AX decreased in mice dorsal root ganglion (DRG) after spared nerve injury (SNI). Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), which promotes γH2AX, was also down-regulated in DRG after peripheral nerve injury. ATM inhibitor KU55933 decreased the level of γH2AX in ND7/23 cells. The intrathecal injection of KU55933 down-regulated DRG γH2AX expression and significantly induced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibition of ATM by siRNA could also decrease the pain threshold. The inhibition of dephosphorylation of γH2AX by protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) siRNA partially suppressed the down-regulation of γH2AX after SNI and relieved pain behavior. Further exploration of the mechanism revealed that inhibiting ATM by KU55933 up-regulated extracellular-signal regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and down-regulated potassium ion channel genes, such as potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily Q member 2 (Kcnq2) and potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily D member 2 (Kcnd2) in vivo, and KU559333 enhanced sensory neuron excitability in vitro. These preliminary findings imply that the down-regulation of γH2AX may contribute to neuropathic pain.

Introducing High Density of Very Active Sites and Stepwise Postmodification for Tailoring the Porosity of Highly Demanding Cr3+-Based Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Chromium(III)-based metal-organic frameworks (Cr-MOFs) are highly robust and porous and have been very attractive in a wide range of investigations. However, the harsh direct synthetic conditions not only impede the synthesis of new Cr-MOFs but also restrict the introduction of functional groups into them. Postsynthetic modification has somewhat alleviated such difficulties; nevertheless, it still suffered from procedures that are tedious and conditions that are not mild, which often result in low concentration of the functional groups introduced. To overcome these shortcomings, here, in this paper, we supplied a new route and prepared a benzyl alcohol functionalized Cr-SXU-2 from the judiciously designed benzyl alcohol functionalized Fe-SXU-2 through solvent-assisted metal metathesis strategy. The functionalized Cr-SXU-2 shows well-preserved crystallinity, porosity, and high chemical stability. The benzyl alcohol group can be converted into a very active benzyl bromide group in an almost quantitative yield and thus for the first time produce the benzyl bromide functionalized MOF, Cr-SXU-2-Br, in which the -Br group can be exchanged by a nucleophilic group. As a proof of concept, -N3 was introduced and transformed into other active sites via "click reaction" to further tailor the interior of Cr-SXU-2. All these functionalized Cr-MOFs showed improved adsorption performance in contrast to the nonfunctionalized one. This step-by-step postmodification process not only diversifies the functionalization of robust MOFs but also opens a new route to employ many different functional groups in the demanding highly stable Cr-MOF platforms.

Gelatin methacryloyl hydrogels functionalized with endothelin-1 for angiogenesis and full-thickness wound healing.

Natural polymer hydrogels are widely used as wound dressings, but they do not have enough bioactivity to accelerate angiogenesis and re-epithelialization. Herein, a therapeutic system was firstly constructed in which endothelin-1 (ET-1), as an endogenous vasoconstrictor peptide, was embedded in a photo-crosslinking gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel for full-thickness wound healing. The multifunctional GelMA-ET-1 hydrogels contained the arginine-glycine-aspartate (RGD) motifs of gelatin that provided adhesive sites for cell proliferation and migration. The ET-1 was wrapped within the network of crosslinked GelMA hydrogels via intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions, effectively avoiding oxidization by atmospheric oxygen and in vivo enzymatic biodegradation. Notably, the ET-1 in the functional hydrogels significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and angiogenesis-related gene expression of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and fibroblasts. The full-thickness skin defect model of rats further revealed that the GelMA-ET-1 hydrogels significantly accelerated new blood vessel formation, collagen deposition and re-epithelialization. After 14 days, the full-thickness skin defects almost closed and were filled with the newly formed tissue. Hence, the photo-crosslinking GelMA-ET-1 hydrogels functionalized with ET-1 can be employed as a promising therapeutic system for wound healing.

Forward osmosis membranes for high-efficiency desalination with Nano-MoS2 composite substrates.

Attractive membranes are critical for improving efficiencies of forward osmosis (FO) desalination process. In this study, a novel FO-PES-MoS2 thin film composite (TFC) membrane was assembled using the phase transfer method through merging MoS2 nanosheets into substrate casting solution. A sequence of characterization techniques was applied to test microstructures and physicochemical properties of the membranes and modification mechanisms based on MoS2 concentrations. Desalination efficiencies of the fabricated membranes were assessed by three NaCl draw solutions. Compared to the blank membrane, the MoS2-contained membranes had a thinner active layer, more upright and open pore structure, higher porosity, and lower surface roughness. 1 wt% MoS2 content was the optimal modification condition, and water flux increased by 35.01% under this condition. Simultaneously, reverse salt flux of the FO-PES-1-MoS2 membrane declined by 29.15% under 1 M NaCl draw solution, indicating increased salt ion rejection performance of the modified membranes. Moreover, Js/Jv ratio indicated that MoS2 nanosheets helped stabilize the desalination performance of the membranes. This study demonstrated that the novel FO-PES-MoS2 TFC membranes possessed improved performances and showed promising properties for saline water desalination.

Modulator-Induced Zr-MOFs Diversification and Investigation of Their Properties in Gas Sorption and Fe3+ Ion Sensing.

In this paper, we synthesized three Zr-MOFs (Zr-SXU-1, Zr-SXU-2, and Zr-SXU-3) composed of identical ligands and metal clusters by using tetratopic carboxylic ligand PBPTTBA as the ligand and benzoic acids as modulators. These three Zr-MOFs showed different structures and topologies, and the connectivity of the Zr clusters varied from 8 in Zr-SXU-3, to 10 in Zr-SXU-1, and finally to 12 in Zr-SXU-2 due to the modulators used. Among them, Zr-SXU-1 represents an unusual 6-node network and [6(10)(11)7] transitivity. Besides, Zr-SXU-2 can only be obtained by using ditopic carboxylic acid as a second modulator when using benzoic acid as the main modulator, which is not reported in other Zr-MOFs synthesis. The adsorption and luminescence tests demonstrated their potential as gas reservoirs, separators, and sensors and also showed the importance of structure topologies to the applications.

Effects of debranching and repeated heat-moisture treatments on structure, physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility of wheat starch.

In this study, wheat starch (WS) was firstly debranched with pullulanase (PUL) and then subjected to repeated heat-moisture treatments (RHMT). The effects of PUL and RHMT on the structure, physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility of WS were investigated. The proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed that the ratio of α-1,6 glycosidic linkage decreased. Raman and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy demonstrated that more ordered structure of starch was formed. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that RHMT could enhance thermal stability and degree of crystal perfection of PUL-WS sample. Scanning electron microscopy results showed that more agglomerates appeared on the surfaces of RHMT starch granules. The swelling power and solubility significantly decreased after HMT. Additionally, the resistant starch (RS) content of RHMT samples significantly increased. These results suggest that debranching and RHMT can significantly change the physicochemical properties and digestibility of WS, and it's beneficial to the RS formation.

Membrane biofouling retardation by zwitterionic peptide and its impact on the bacterial adhesion.

Nanofiltration polyamide membranes naturally tend towards biofouling, due to their surface physicochemistries. Nisin, a type of short cationic amphiphilic peptide with antimicrobial properties, has been recognized as a safe antimicrobial for food biopreservation and biomedical applications. This study investigates the impact of nisin on the initial bacterial attachment to membranes, its anti-biofouling properties, and characterizes a non-monotonic correlation between nisin concentration and biofilm inhibition. Nisin was found to inhibit B. subtilis (G+) and P. aeruginosa (G-) attachment to both the nanofiltration membrane and the PES membrane. To determine the mechanism of action, we investigated the polysaccharides, protein, and eDNA as target components. We found that the quantities of polysaccharides and eDNA were significantly changed, resulting in bacterial death and anti-adhesion to membrane. However, there were no discernable impacts on protein. We postulated that nisin could prevent irreversible biofouling by decreasing adhesion, killing bacteria, and reducing biofilm formation. We examined membrane flux behavior through bench-scale cross-flow experiments at a set concentration of nisin (100 µg mL-1), with membrane behavior being confirmed using CLSM images. Results showed that nisin could enhance anti-biofouling properties through both anti-adhesive and anti-bacterial effects, and therefore could be a novel strategy against biofouling of membranes.

Effects of cross-linking with sodium trimetaphosphate on structural and adsorptive properties of porous wheat starches.

In this study, effect of cross-linking with 4% sodium trimetaphosphate on the structural and adsorptive properties of porous wheat starches was investigated. The results showed that the cross-linked porous starches (CLPS) exhibited lower solubility, swelling power and ordered structure but higher thermal stability compared with the corresponding porous starches (PS). Cross-linking led to the formation of more dense holes on the surfaces of PS, as observed by SEM. XPS results demonstrated that phosphate groups were bound to the OH groups on starches by covalent bonds (COP). Adsorption experiments manifested that the CLPS exhibited higher adsorption capacities for water, oil and methylene blue compared to the corresponding PS. Furthermore, the isothermal data of the CLPS fitted the Langmuir isotherm model well compared to Freundich and Tempkin models, and the adsorption was exothermic and favorable. These results suggest that cross-linking modification can improve the thermal stability and adsorptive properties of PS.

Effects of heat-moisture treatment after citric acid esterification on structural properties and digestibility of wheat starch, A- and B-type starch granules.

In this study, wheat starch, A- and B-type starch granules were firstly treated with citric acid (CT) and then subjected to heat-moisture treatment (HMT). The maximum thermo-stable resistant starch (RS) contents reached 71.52%, 71.27%, 71.58% for CT-HMT wheat starch, A- and B-type starch granules, respectively. The hydrolysis kinetic parameters (C∞ and k) reduced after CT-HMT. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results revealed that the endothermic and crystalline peaks of CT-HMT starch samples disappeared. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results showed that more collapses and destructiveness appeared on the surfaces of CT-HMT starch granules. The esterification reaction became stronger during HMT according to Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy analysis, which was consistent with the results of degree of substitution. Raman spectroscopy presented similar structural properties results with XRD and FT-IR. These results suggest that CT prior to HMT is a useful method for preparing high amount of thermally stable RS.

Effects of the combination of repeated heat-moisture treatment and compound enzymes hydrolysis on the structural and physicochemical properties of porous wheat starch.

Effects of the combination of repeated heat-moisture treatment for two times (2-HMT) and compound enzymes hydrolysis on structural and physicochemical properties of porous wheat starches were investigated. The dual-modification resulted in the formation of more pores on the surface of native starches, as revealed by SEM. Compared with single-modified starch samples, the porous starch samples treated by dual-modification exhibited higher gelatinization temperature, lower gelatinization enthalpy and higher crystallinity, as determined by DSC, FT-IR and XRD. Batch adsorption experiments manifested that the dual-modified starch samples exhibited higher adsorption capacities for water, oil and methylene blue. Moreover, the adsorption behaviors of the porous A-type starch granules with or without 2-HMT fitted Freundlich isotherm model well. Low-temperature nitrogen adsorption results showed that dual modifications greatly increased specific surface area and total pore volume of the starch samples. The present study suggests that the dual-modification is an attractive alternative for preparing porous wheat starches.

Effects of glutenin and gliadin modified by protein-glutaminase on pasting, rheological properties and microstructure of potato starch.

Glutenin and gliadin were treated with protein-glutaminase in order to obtain soluble glutenin (PG-Glu) and gliadin (PG-Gli). PG-Glu or PG-Gli was added to potato starch at various concentrations (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% of starch weight, w/w), and the physicochemical properties and microstructure of starch/protein mixtures were investigated. The results showed that the presence of PG-Glu or PG-Gli decreased the viscosity parameters and yield stress and consistency coefficient of mixed pastes. The starch/protein mixed pastes exhibited a pseudoplastic and shear-thinning behavior under yield stress condition, and the storage modulus and loss modulus increased. Moreover, the To, Tp, Tc, and ΔH of starch/protein mixtures varied insignificantly compared with native starch. CLSM results confirmed the inhibition of PG-Glu and PG-Gli on the gelatinization of starch, and the morphology of starch granules became more compact. These results suggest that the physicochemical properties and microstructure of potato starch are effectively influenced by PG-Glu or PG-Gli.