Carbon flow, energy metabolic intensity and metagenomic characteristics of a Fe (III)-enhanced anerobic digestion system during treating swine wastewater.

Deep treatment and bioenergy recovery of swine wastewater (SW) are beneficial for constructing a low-carbon footprint and resource-recycling society. In this study, Fe (III) addition from 0 to 600 mg/L significantly increased the methane (CH4) content of the recovered biogas from 61.4 ± 2.0 to 89.3 ± 2.0 % during SW treatment in an anaerobic membrane digestion system. The specific methane yields (SMY) also increased significantly from 0.20 ± 0.05 to 0.29 ± 0.02 L/g COD. Fe (III) and its bio-transformed products which participated in establishing direct interspecific electron transfer (DIET), upregulated the abundance of e-pili and Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), enriched electroactive bacteria. The increase in cellular adenosine triphosphate (cATP) from 6583 to 14,518 ng/gVSS and electron transport system (ETS) from 1468 to 1968 mg/(g·h) promoted the intensity of energy flow and electron flow during anaerobic digestion of SW. Moreover, Fe (III) promoted the hydrolysis and acidification of organic matters, and strengthened the acetoacetic methanogenesis pathway. This study established an approach for harvesting high quality bioenergy from SW and revealed the effects and mechanisms from the view of carbon flow, energy metabolic intensity and metagenomics.

Age-related differences in saccadic indices of top-down guidance via short-term memory during visual search.

Aging has been associated with significant declines in the speed and accuracy of visual search. These effects have been attributed partly to low-level (bottom-up) factors including reductions in sensory acuity and general processing speed. Aging is also associated with changes in top-down attentional control, but the impact of these on search is less well-understood. The present study investigated age-related differences in top-down attentional control by comparing the speed and accuracy of saccadic sampling in the presence and absence of top-down information about target color in young (YA) and older (OA) observers. Displays contained an equal number of red and blue Landholt stimuli. Targets were distinguished from distractors by a unique orientation, and observers reported the direction of the target's gap on each trial. Single-target cues signaled the color of the target with 100% validity. Dual-target cues indicated the target could be present in either colored subgroup. The results revealed reliable group differences in the benefits associated with top-down information on single-target cues compared to dual-target cues. On single-target searches, OA made significantly more saccades than YA to stimuli in the uncued color subset. Single-target cues also produced a smaller advantage in the time taken to fixate the target in OA compared to YA. These results support an age-related decline in observers' use of top-down information to restrict sequences of saccades to a task-relevant subset of objects during visual search. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Uncovering sympathetic nervous system dysfunction in disorders of consciousness via heart rate variability during head-up tilt test.

Few standardized tools are available for evaluation of disorders of consciousness (DOC). The potential of heart rate variability (HRV) during head-up tilt (HUT) test was investigated as a complementary evaluation tool. Twenty-one DOC patients and 21 healthy participants were enrolled in this study comparing clinical characteristics and HRV time- and frequency-domain outcomes and temporal changes during HUT test. During the 1st-5th min of the HUT, DOC group showed a significant increase and decrease in log low frequency (LF) (p = 0.045) and log normalized high frequency (nHF) (p = 0.02), respectively, compared to the supine position and had lower log normalized LF (nLF) (p = 0.004) and log ratio of low-to-high frequency (LF/HF) (p = 0.001) compared to healthy controls. As the HUT continued from the 6th to the 20th min, DOC group exhibited a significant increase in log LF/HF (16th-20th min) (p < 0.05), along with a decrease in log nHF (6th-10th and 16th-20th min) (p < 0.05) and maintained lower log LF, log nLF, and log LF/HF than controls (p < 0.05). 1st-10th min after returning to the supine position, DOC group demonstrated a significant decrease in log nHF (p < 0.01) and increases in log LF/HF (p < 0.01) and had lower log LF (p < 0.01) and log nLF (p < 0.05) compared to controls. In contrast, the control group exhibited a significant decrease in log nHF (p < 0.05) and increase in log LF/HF (p < 0.05) throughout the entire HUT test. Notably, no significant differences were observed when comparing time-domain outcomes reflecting parasympathetic nervous system between the two groups. HRV during HUT test indicated a delayed and attenuated autonomic response, particularly in the sympathetic nervous system, in DOC patients compared with healthy individuals.

Chemotherapy-induced microbiota exacerbates the toxicity of chemotherapy through the suppression of interleukin-10 from macrophages.

The gut microbiota has been shown to influence the efficacy and toxicity of chemotherapy, thereby affecting treatment outcomes. Understanding the mechanism by which microbiota affects chemotherapeutic toxicity would have a profound impact on cancer management. In this study, we report that fecal microbiota transplantation from oxaliplatin-exposed mice promotes toxicity in recipient mice. Splenic RNA sequencing and macrophage depletion experiment showed that the microbiota-induced toxicity of oxaliplatin in mice was dependent on macrophages. Furthermore, oxaliplatin-mediated toxicity was exacerbated in Il10-/- mice, but not attenuated in Rag1-/- mice. Adoptive transfer of macrophage into Il10-/- mice confirmed the role of macrophage-derived IL-10 in the improvement of oxaliplatin-induced toxicity. Depletion of fecal Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium was associated with the exacerbation of oxaliplatin-mediated toxicity, whereas supplementation with these probiotics alleviated chemotherapy-induced toxicity. Importantly, IL-10 administration and probiotics supplementation did not attenuate the antitumor efficacy of chemotherapy. Clinically, patients with colorectal cancer exposed to oxaliplatin exhibited downregulation of peripheral CD45+IL-10+ cells. Collectively, our findings indicate that microbiota-mediated IL-10 production influences tolerance to chemotherapy, and thus represents a potential clinical target.

Enteral nutrition promotes the remission of colitis by gut bacteria-mediated histidine biosynthesis.

BACKGROUND: Exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is an important alternative strategy for patients with Crohn's disease (CD), and during this process, microbiota alterations have been observed. However, the underlying mechanisms by which EEN reduces intestinal inflammation are currently unclear. METHODS: The therapeutic potential of enteral nutrition (EN) was assessed using various mouse models. Fecal full-length 16S rDNA sequencing analysis and several CD metagenome datasets were used to identify the candidate therapeutic bacteria Faecalibaculum rodentium (F. rodentium). Whole genome sequencing of F. rodentium and widely-targeted metabolome analysis of the supernatant showed that EN-induced F. rodentium accumulation protected against colitis via histidine biosynthesis. FINDINGS: The therapeutic potential of EN therapy was observed in both dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis and Il10-/- spontaneous colitis mouse models. Accumulation of F. rodentium after EN therapy was determined using full-length 16S rDNA sequencing and verified with several metagenome datasets from patients with CD. Colonization of an isolated F. rodentium could reduce colitis in Il10-/- mice. Significant histidine enrichment was observed in the F. rodentium culture supernatant, and a series of histidine biosynthesis genes were observed in the F. rodentium genome. Engineered Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN), encoding the heterologous hisG of F. rodentium (EcN-hisG), which was a key driver of histidine biosynthesis in F. rodentium, was found to protect against colitis. INTERPRETATION: This study suggests that EN-induced F. rodentium accumulation protects against colitis in mice via gut bacteria-mediated histidine biosynthesis. FUNDING: A full list of funding bodies can be found in the Acknowledgements section.

Epidemiology Characteristics and Potential Clinical Value of Vulvar Human Papillomavirus in Chinese Women: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.

CONTEXT.­: Noninvasive self-sampling is a convenient option that may be highly accepted by women for home-based detection, which could increase the screening rate for cervical cancer (CC) and reduce its incidence and mortality. OBJECTIVE.­: To compare the distribution of high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) between the vulva and cervix and to explore the clinical value of vulvar HPV detection in CC screening. DESIGN.­: The study was nested within a clinical trial on recombinant HPV 9-valent vaccine for women ages 20 to 45 years. Women with paired vulvar and cervical specimens were included and received cytology and HPV detection. The consistency of HPV detection between vulvar and cervical specimens was evaluated using Cohen κ statistics. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of primary CC screening. The primary end points were cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 2/3 or worse (CIN2+/3+). RESULTS.­: A total of 7999 women were enrolled, and 83/33 cases were diagnosed as CIN2+/CIN3+. The HPV-positive rate in vulvar specimens (1785 of 7999; 22.32%) was higher than that in cervical specimens (1390 of 7999; 17.38%), and there were no significant differences in the distribution of hr-HPV genotypes between the vulva and cervix in patients with CIN2+/CIN3+. Vulva-based HPV primary screening showed sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV comparable to those for cervix-based HPV primary CC screening in the detection of CIN3+. CONCLUSIONS.­: The distribution of vulvar and cervical HPV was similar in patients with CIN2+/CIN3+. Vulva-based HPV primary CC screening had acceptable diagnostic efficacy and might be used as a modality for primary CC screening.

Water-Level Fluctuation Control of the Trophic Structure of a Yangtze River Oxbow.

Seasonal water-level fluctuations can profoundly impact nutrient dynamics in aquatic ecosystems, influencing trophic structures and overall ecosystem functions. The Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow of the Yangtze River is China's first ex situ reserve and the world's first successful case of ex situ conservation for cetaceans. In order to better protect the Yangtze finless porpoise, the effects of water-level fluctuations on the trophic structure in this oxbow cannot be ignored. Therefore, we employed stable isotope analysis to investigate the changes in the trophic position, trophic niche, and contribution of basal food sources to fish during the wet and dry seasons of 2021-2022. The research results indicate that based on stable isotope analysis of the trophic levels of different dietary fish species, fish trophic levels during the wet season were generally higher than those during the dry season, but the difference was not significant (p > 0.05). Fish communities in the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow exhibited broader trophic niche space and lower trophic redundancy during the wet season (p < 0.05), indicating a more complex and stable food web structure. In both the wet and dry seasons, fish in the oxbow primarily relied on endogenous carbon sources, but there were significant differences in the way they were utilized between the two seasons (p < 0.05). In light of the changes in the trophic structure of the fish during the wet and dry seasons, and to ensure the stable development of the Yangtze finless porpoise population, we recommend strengthening the connectivity between the Tian-e-Zhou Oxbow and the Yangtze River.

Preparation and characterization of 3D hydroxyapatite/collagen scaffolds and its application in bone regeneration with bone morphogenetic protein-2.

Desirable bone engineering materials should have a conducive three-dimensional (3D) structure and bioactive mediators for guided bone regeneration. In the present study, hydroxyapatite (HA)/collagen (Col) scaffolds were prepared by an optimized freeze-drying process. The porosity, moisture content, and mechanical properties of the composite have been investigated. The micro-morphology and structure were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), confirmed that self-cross-linked HA/Col was evenly distributed and formed a 3D porous scaffold. The physicochemical/mechanical characterization was carried out by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Morphological observation and CCK-8 assay of co-culture cells indicated that HA/Col scaffolds were biocompatible. Then HA/Col scaffolds coupled with recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins 2 (rhBMP-2) were implanted in the mandibular critical size defect in rats, and histological staining was used to evaluate the bone reconstruction. The result showed that HA/Col coupled with rhBMP-2 could significantly improve the formation of new bone and angiogenesis within the scaffolds as well as the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts. Thanks to the encouraging osteogenesis effects, the well-defined 3D scaffolds (HA/Col) cooperating with bioactive agents (rhBMP-2) are expected to be a promising candidate for bone tissue engineering applied to regenerative medicine.

Diagnostic accuracy of extended HPV DNA genotyping and its application for risk-based cervical cancer screening strategy.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the consistency of 14 high-risk HPVs (hr-HPVs) detection between extended HPV DNA genotyping and a well-validated partial HPV genotyping kit, and to explore the diagnostic accuracy of risk stratification strategy based on extended HPV genotyping for cervical cancer (CC) screening. METHODS: Baseline data from a clinical trial of recombinant HPV 9-valent vaccine in China was analyzed. All enrolled women aged 20-45 years received cervical cytology, HPV detection by extended and partial HPV genotyping kits. Those who met the indications would further receive colposcopy. The primary endpoints were cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2/3 or worse (CIN2+/CIN3+). RESULTS: A total of 8,000 women were enrolled between April 2020 and July 2020 and 83/33 cases were diagnosed as CIN2+/CIN3+. The overall agreement between the extended and partial HPV genotyping was 92.66 %. And the agreement further increased with the progression of lesions, which lead to similarly high sensitivity and negative predictive value of these kits. A stratified triage strategy of CC screening was constructed based on the immediate CIN2+/CIN3+ risk of specific HPV. Compared with the conventional HPV primary CC screening strategy, the risk-based strategy had higher specificity for CIN (CIN2+: 94.84 vs. 92.46 %, CIN3+: 96.05 vs. 91.92 %), and needed fewer colposcopies for detecting one cervical disease. CONCLUSIONS: Extended HPV genotyping had good agreement with a well-validated partial HPV genotyping CC primary screening kit in hr-HPV detection. Extended HPV genotyping could facilitate risk-based stratified management strategy and improve the diagnostic accuracy of primary CC screening.

Phospholipid Removal for Enhanced Chemical Exposomics in Human Plasma.

The challenge of chemical exposomics in human plasma is the 1000-fold concentration gap between endogenous substances and environmental pollutants. Phospholipids are the major endogenous small molecules in plasma, thus we validated a chemical exposomics protocol with an optimized phospholipid-removal step prior to targeted and non-targeted liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry. Increased injection volume with negligible matrix effect permitted sensitive multiclass targeted analysis of 77 priority analytes; median MLOQ = 0.05 ng/mL for 200 µL plasma. In non-targeted acquisition, mean total signal intensities of non-phospholipids were enhanced 6-fold in positive (max 28-fold) and 4-fold in negative mode (max 58-fold) compared to a control method without phospholipid removal. Moreover, 109 and 28% more non-phospholipid molecular features were detected by exposomics in positive and negative mode, respectively, allowing new substances to be annotated that were non-detectable without phospholipid removal. In individual adult plasma (100 µL, n = 34), 28 analytes were detected and quantified among 10 chemical classes, and quantitation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) was externally validated by independent targeted analysis. Retrospective discovery and semi-quantification of PFAS-precursors was demonstrated, and widespread fenuron exposure is reported in plasma for the first time. The new exposomics method is complementary to metabolomics protocols, relies on open science resources, and can be scaled to support large studies of the exposome.

The Significance of Human Papillomavirus Receptors Related Genetic Variants in Cervical Cancer Screening.

To investigate the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human papillomavirus (HPV) receptor associated genes and HPV susceptibility and clinical outcomes in Chinese women, from October 2016 to March 2020, a total of 3,066 women were recruited for a 3-year prospective population-based cervical cancer screening clinical trial. The primary endpoint was histological cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 and worse (CIN2+). Twenty-nine SNPs of HPV receptor associated genes on women with available cytology residual samples at baseline were detected using MALDI-TOF MS. Eligible data were available for 2,938 women. Rs16894821 (GG versus AA, OR =1.71 [1.08 to 2.69]) and rs724236 (TT versus AA, OR = 1.73 [1.14 to 2.62]) in SDC2 were significantly related to the HPV susceptibility. And rs2575712 (TT versus GG, OR = 2.78 [1.22 to 6.36]) in SDC2 was associated with increased HPV 16/18 susceptibility. Four SNPs (rs1047057 and rs10510097 in FGFR2 gene, rs2575735 in SDC2 gene, and rs878949 in HSPG2 gene) were significantly associated with persistent HPV infection. Importantly, the genotypes of rs16894821 under recessive model (GG versus AA/AG, OR = 2.40 [1.12 to 5.15]) in SDC2 and rs11199993 under dominant model (GC/CC versus GG, OR = 1.64 [1.01 to 2.68]) in FGFR2 were significantly associated with the disease progression. Finally, SNPs showed comparable efficacy in detecting CIN2+ for the women infected with non-HPV16/18 compared with cervical cytology (sensitivity: 0.51 [0.36 to 0.66] versus 0.44 [0.30 to 0.60], specificity: 0.96 [0.96 to 0.97] versus 0.98 [0.97 to 0.99], positive predictive value: 0.23 [0.15 to 0.33] versus 0.33 [0.22 to 0.47], and negative predictive value: 0.99 [0.98 to 0.99] versus 0.99 [0.98 to 0.99]). SNPs in HPV receptor related genes may influence HPV susceptibilities and clinical outcomes in Chinese women. IMPORTANCE Virus receptors are known to mediate virus attachment and further lead to virus infection of the host cells. In the current study, we investigated the relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in human papillomavirus (HPV) receptor associated genes and HPV susceptibility and clinical outcomes in Chinese women, and to explore the new triaging strategy for non-16/18 high-risk HPV infection.

Intrafibrillar mineralization of type I collagen by micelle-loaded amorphous calcium phosphate nanoparticles.

Mineralization of type I collagen fibrils is highly desired for artificial bone preparation and teeth repairing. Generally, amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) combined with non-collagenous protein analogue (NCPA) were used for biomimetic remineralization of collagen fibrils. However, the ACP was likely to aggregate to form larger particles that could not infiltrate into the gaps of the collagen for intrafibrillar mineralization, and the poor storage stability of ACP has challenged its practical applications. To address this question, here we assembled ACP that was stabilized by carboxylated polyamidoamine (CPAMAM) at a pH of 6.5 to form dispersed nanoparticles of 25 nm in size, which was named as ACP/CPAMAM. The ACP/CPAMAM nanoparticles were further loaded into micelles composed of polysorbate and polyethylene glycol (PEG) to further improve their storage stability. The micelle-loaded ACP/CPAMAM particles could maintain their amorphous phase after storage for 12 months. During the mineralization of collagen fibrils, isopropanol (IPA) was introduced to dissolve the micelles and release the ACP/CPAMAM nanoparticles. By using micelle-loaded ACP/CPAMAM, good intrafibrillar mineralization of type I collagen was demonstrated. This work provides novel methods for preparing ACP nanoparticles with good storage stability and controllable release for intrafibrillar mineralization.

Comparing Multi-Dimensional fNIRS Features Using Bayesian Optimization-Based Neural Networks for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Detection.

The diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a prodromal stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), is essential for initiating timely treatment to delay the onset of AD. Previous studies have shown the potential of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) for diagnosing MCI. However, preprocessing fNIRS measurements requires extensive experience to identify poor-quality segments. Moreover, few studies have explored how proper multi-dimensional fNIRS features influence the classification results of the disease. Thus, this study outlined a streamlined fNIRS preprocessing method to process fNIRS measurements and compared multi-dimensional fNIRS features with neural networks in order to explore how temporal and spatial factors affect the classification of MCI and cognitive normality. More specifically, this study proposed using Bayesian optimization-based auto hyperparameter tuning neural networks to evaluate 1D channel-wise, 2D spatial, and 3D spatiotemporal features of fNIRS measurements for detecting MCI patients. The highest test accuracies of 70.83%, 76.92%, and 80.77% were achieved for 1D, 2D, and 3D features, respectively. Through extensive comparisons, the 3D time-point oxyhemoglobin feature was proven to be a more promising fNIRS feature for detecting MCI by using an fNIRS dataset of 127 participants. Furthermore, this study presented a potential approach for fNIRS data processing, and the designed models required no manual hyperparameter tuning, which promoted the general utilization of fNIRS modality with neural network-based classification to detect MCI.

Insight into the effects and mechanism of cellulose and hemicellulose on anaerobic digestion in a CSTR-AnMBR system during swine wastewater treatment.

The cellulose and hemicellulose content in swine wastewater significantly affected the performance of a continuous stirred tank reactor-anaerobic membrane bioreactor (CSTR-AnMBR). When the influent content of cellulose and hemicellulose was controlled at 3.88 ± 0.89 and 9.72 ± 2.05 g/L, respectively, the CSTR-AnMBR showed a low methane yield (0.04-0.06 L CH4/g COD) at both HRT of 12 d and HRT 30 d. The functional microbes preferred to use the freshly added degradable COD, and the decomposition of refractory COD was paused. Meanwhile, the AnMBR unit was troubled by rapidly growing membrane fouling. The trans-membrane pressure increased with a rate of 1.63 kPa/d (HRT = 12d), and 0.99 kPa/d (HRT = 30 d) exacerbated the reactor performance. In high cellulose and hemicellulose-containing environments, the cellulolytic and hemicellulolytic microbes, including Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, were stimulated to a certain extent. In addition, cellulose and hemicellulose up-regulated the gene expression for sugar and amino acid metabolism, decreasing the abundance of metabolism related to methane production. When the influent content of cellulose and hemicellulose decreased to 0.62 ± 0.12 and 0.77 ± 0.30 g/L, respectively, the system's performance was significantly improved, microorganisms produced less low-molecular-weight soluble microbial products, which also reduced membrane fouling risk. This study provides significant guidance for treating livestock manure with the CSTR-AnMBR system.

Molecular profile-based recommendations for postoperative adjuvant therapy in early endometrial cancer with high-intermediate or intermediate risk: a Chinese randomized phase III trial (PROBEAT).

BACKGROUND: The use of molecular categorisation is shifting paradigm towards the use of molecular information to refine risk stratification in endometrial cancer (EC). To date, evidence to support molecular-guided therapies is limited to retrospective studies and secondary molecular analyses of patients receiving standard treatment. The PROBEAT study is the first randomized phase III trial to evaluate tailored adjuvant treatment based on WHO-endorsed molecular classification in Chinese EC patients. It is expected to provide a clinical decision-making tool for adjuvant treatment of patients with high-intermediate risk (HIR) or intermediate risk (IR) EC to better optimise and personalise patient care and increase relapse-free survival. METHODS: The PROBEAT trial is a prospective, multicentre study led by Women's Hospital of Zhejiang University Gynaecologic Oncology Group. Recruitment started on January 24, 2022, and 590 patients with HIR or IR endometrioid EC are expected to be recruited from 13 clinical centres in China. All tumor tissues will be classified into four molecular subtypes (POLEmut, MMRd, p53abn, or NSMP) based on WHO-endorsed molecular classification. Patients will be randomly assigned at a 2:1 ratio to either experimental arm and will receive molecular profile-based adjuvant treatment (observation in the POLEmut subgroup, vaginal brachytherapy in the MMRd or NSMP subgroup, or chemoradiotherapy in the p53abn subgroup) or to standard arm and will receive preferred adjuvant radiotherapy as recommended by the recent National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines version 1 (2022). The primary outcome is 3-year rates of recurrence. Secondary outcomes are relapse-free survival, overall survival, adverse events and health-related cancer-specific quality of life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05179447.

Varied promotion effects and mechanisms of biochar on anaerobic digestion (AD) under distinct food-to-microorganism (F/M) ratios and biochar dosages.

Biochar (BC) promotes the performance of anaerobic digestion (AD) through different routes, such as enriching microbes, buffering pH and promoting electron transfer. However, the mechanisms and processes of AD that enhanced by BC under various food to microorganism (F/M) ratios are still unclear. The organic transformations, bioelectrochemical characteristics and microbial consortia under the different BC dosages and F/M ratios were studied to reveal the role of BC in an AD process. The electron transfer system (ETS) was proportional to BC dosage and considered to be a key for AD promotion. At the F/M ratios of 0.5 and 1.0, BC accelerated methane production mainly by promoting ETS. The most enhanced specific methanation activities (SMAs) were obtained with 10.0 g/L BC, and the promotion efficiency under the F/M ratio of 1.0 was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than that under the F/M ratio of 0.5. Under the higher F/M ratio of 2.0, BC shortened the entire AD duration for 5.0 âˆ¼ 13.0 days and guaranteed the resilience of AD by expanding the thermodynamic window of syntrophic methanogenesis via direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). The COD balance analysis and the ecological functional profiles of microbes demonstrated that BC promoted both the anabolism and catabolism of anaerobes, and enhanced the DIET by converting hydrotrophic methanogenesis into acetolastic methanogenesis pathway. Besides, excessive BC enhanced SMA and simultaneously triggered superfluous biomass growth and thus decreased CH4 yield. This study provided an important reference for further application of BC under various F/M ratios and dosages in AD.

An actionable annotation scoring framework for gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry.

Omics-based technologies have enabled comprehensive characterization of our exposure to environmental chemicals (chemical exposome) as well as assessment of the corresponding biological responses at the molecular level (eg, metabolome, lipidome, proteome, and genome). By systematically measuring personal exposures and linking these stimuli to biological perturbations, researchers can determine specific chemical exposures of concern, identify mechanisms and biomarkers of toxicity, and design interventions to reduce exposures. However, further advancement of metabolomics and exposomics approaches is limited by a lack of standardization and approaches for assigning confidence to chemical annotations. While a wealth of chemical data is generated by gas chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS), incorporating GC-HRMS data into an annotation framework and communicating confidence in these assignments is challenging. It is essential to be able to compare chemical data for exposomics studies across platforms to build upon prior knowledge and advance the technology. Here, we discuss the major pieces of evidence provided by common GC-HRMS workflows, including retention time and retention index, electron ionization, positive chemical ionization, electron capture negative ionization, and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization spectral matching, molecular ion, accurate mass, isotopic patterns, database occurrence, and occurrence in blanks. We then provide a qualitative framework for incorporating these various lines of evidence for communicating confidence in GC-HRMS data by adapting the Schymanski scoring schema developed for reporting confidence levels by liquid chromatography HRMS (LC-HRMS). Validation of our framework is presented using standards spiked in plasma, and confident annotations in outdoor and indoor air samples, showing a false-positive rate of 12% for suspect screening for chemical identifications assigned as Level 2 (when structurally similar isomers are not considered false positives). This framework is easily adaptable to various workflows and provides a concise means to communicate confidence in annotations. Further validation, refinements, and adoption of this framework will ideally lead to harmonization across the field, helping to improve the quality and interpretability of compound annotations obtained in GC-HRMS.

Single-Cell Sequencing of Malignant Ascites Reveals Transcriptomic Remodeling of the Tumor Microenvironment during the Progression of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the main cause of mortality among gynecological malignancies worldwide. Although patients with EOC undergo aggregate treatment, the prognosis is often poor. Peritoneal malignant ascites is a distinguishable clinical feature in EOC patients and plays a pivotal role in tumor progression and recurrence. The mechanisms of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in ascites in the regulation of tumor progression need to be explored. We comprehensively analyzed the transcriptomes of 4680 single cells from five EOC patients (three diagnostic samples and two recurrent samples) derived from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Batch effects between different samples were removed using an unsupervised deep embedding single-cell cluster algorithm. Subcluster analysis identified the different phenotypes of cells. The transition of a malignant cell state was confirmed using pseudotime analysis. The landscape of TME in malignant ascites was profiled during EOC progression. The transformation of epithelial cancer cells into mesenchymal cells was observed to lead to the emergence of related anti-chemotherapy and immune escape phenotypes. We found the activation of multiple biological pathways with the transition of tumor-associated macrophages and fibroblasts, and we identified the infiltration of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells in recurrent samples. The cell adhesion molecules mediated by integrin might be associated with the formation of the tumorsphere. Our study provides novel insights into the remodeling of the TME heterogeneity in malignant ascites during EOC progression, which provides evidence for identifying novel therapeutic targets and promotes the development of ovarian cancer treatment.

Clinical observation of acupuncture combined with modern rehabilitation in the treatment of limb motor dysfunction after ischemic stroke: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Motor dysfunction is a common sequela of ischemic stroke. This study aimed to explore the effective treatment of ischemic stroke by combining acupuncture and modern rehabilitation training. METHODS: This study was a single-center, randomized controlled clinical trial conducted at the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 90 cases were finally included, divided into 45 cases each in the body acupuncture group and the head acupuncture group. INTERVENTIONS: Both groups received basic drug treatment, modern rehabilitation training, and basic life care guidance; the body acupuncture group was treated with reference to acupuncture points from the classic textbook of acupuncture and moxibustion, and the head acupuncture group was given Zhu's scalp acupuncture treatment based on the body acupuncture group. Primary outcome index: unassisted muscle strength grading scale; secondary outcome index: assessment of activities of daily living; simplified Fugl-Meyer motor function rating scale. RESULTS: The Barthel scale score, Manual Muscle Testing scale score (upper and lower limbs), and simplified Fugl-Meyer scale score (upper and lower limbs) in the 2 groups were improved (P ≤ .05), and the efficacy of the head-acupuncture group was better than that of the body-acupuncture group (P ≤ .05); there was no significant improvement in the simplified Fugl-Meyer scale (hand) score in both groups (P ≥ .05). There was no significant improvement in these scores (P ≥ .05). The difference in efficiency between the 2 groups was not statistically significant (P ≤ .05), and the apparent efficiency in the cephalic needle group was higher than that in the body needle group (P ≤ .05). CONCLUSIONS: Simultaneous treatment with Zhu's scalp acupuncture and body acupuncture combined with modern rehabilitation training can significantly improve limb motor function in patients with ischemic stroke, and its efficacy is better than that of body acupuncture alone combined with modern rehabilitation training.

Brain Metabolic Connectivity Patterns in Patients with Prolonged Disorder of Consciousness after Hypoxic-Ischemic Injury: A Preliminary Study.

Understanding the patterns of brain glucose metabolism and connectivity in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (DOC) may be of positive significance to the accurate assessment of consciousness and the optimization of neuromodulation strategy. We retrospectively analyzed the brain glucose metabolism pattern and its correlation with clinical Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) score in six HIE patients with prolonged DOC who had undergone 18F-deoxyglucose brain positron emission tomography scanning (FDG-PET). We also compared the differences in global metabolic connectivity patterns and the characteristics of several brain networks between HIE patients and healthy controls (HC). The metabolism of multiple brain regions decreased significantly in HIE patients, and the degree of local metabolic preservation was correlated with CRS-R score. The internal metabolic connectivity of occipital lobe and limbic system in HIE patients decreased, and their metabolic connectivity with frontal lobe, parietal lobe and temporal lobe also decreased. The metabolic connectivity patterns of default mode network, dorsal attention network, salience network, executive control network and subcortex network of HIE also changed compared with HC. The present study suggested that pattern of cerebral glucose metabolism and network connectivity of HIE patients with prolonged DOC were significantly different from those of healthy people.