Aggregation Inducing Reversible Conformational Isomerization of Surface Staple in Au18SR14 Nanoclusters.

The conformation of molecules and materials is crucial in determining their properties and applications. Here, this work explores the reversible transformation between two distinct conformational isomers in metal nanoclusters. This work demonstrates the successful manipulation of a controllable and reversible isomerization of Au18SR14 within an aqueous solution through two distinct methods: ethanol addition and pH adjustment. The initial driver is the alteration of the solution environment, leading to the aggregation of Au18SR14 protected by ligands with smaller steric hindrance. At the atomic level, the folding mode of the unique Au4SR5 staple underpins the observed structural transformation. The reversal of staple conformation leads to color shifting between green and orange-red, and tailors a second emission peak at 725 nm originating from charge transfer from the thiolate to the Au9 core. This work not only deepens the understanding of the surface structure and dual-emission of metal nanoparticles, but also enhances the comprehension of their isomerization.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 2 represses cervical cancer progression via inhibiting aerobic glycolysis through promoting pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2 ubiquitination.

Growing evidence has shown that aerobic glycolysis, as a hallmark of cancer cells, plays a crucial role in cervical cancer. The aim of the study is to uncover whether fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase 2 (FBP2) is involved in cervical cancer progression via the aerobic glycolysis pathway. FBP2 levels were determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) and western blotting. Cell growth viability and apoptosis were tested by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and flow cytometry assays. Immunoprecipitation assay was applied for the detection of the FBP2 effect on pyruvate kinase isozyme type M2 (PKM2) ubiquitination. FBP2 level was decreased in cervical cancer, which is closely linked to shorter overall survival. FBP2 decreased cell growth and aerobic glycolysis and increased cell apoptosis, as well as decreased PKM2 expression and increased its ubiquitination level. The above-mentioned roles of FBP2 were weakened followed by PKM2 overexpression. FBP2 inhibited cervical cancer cell growth via inhibiting aerobic glycolysis by inducing PKM2 ubiquitination.

The Effect of Education Intervention on Osteoporotic Fracture and Bone Mineral Density in Elderly Women With Osteoporosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess whether a 5-year follow-up education intervention changed the risk for fragility fractures and increased bone mineral density (BMD) in elderly women with osteoporosis. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial included 104 women who were hospitalized or visited a specialist for osteoporosis care at Sichuan Translational Medicine Research Hospital in China from October 2013 to June 2014. The patients were randomly assigned to either an education intervention group (n = 52) or a control group (n = 52). The intervention was conducted by an endocrinologist who provided the intervention group with personized recommendations. All participants were followed for 5 years. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the patients in the intervention group had a lower risk for fragility fracture, lower pain score, higher BMD at the greater trochanter of the femur, total hip and the first lumbar vertebra, together with higher compliance with anti-osteoporosis drug regimens and higher intake of vitamin D supplements (all P <.05). After adjustment for history of fracture, calcium consumption, age and body mass index (BMI), the association of change in BMD and pain score and the medication possession ratio (MPR) of anti-osteoporosis drugs were both significantly different (P < .05, P < .001, respectively). In subgroup analysis by past fractures, patients who experienced post-fractures were more likely to experience refracture (P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The personalized education intervention by endocrinologists can significantly increase the BMD of the greater trochanter of the femur and reduce pain scores in elderly women with osteoporosis, suggesting that this education intervention may serve as an important addition to standard anti-osteoporosis treatment.

Highly tough, anti-fatigue and rapidly self-recoverable hydrogels reinforced with core-shell inorganic-organic hybrid latex particles.

The introduction of SiO2 particles as crosslinking points into hydrogels has been recognized as a suitable way for toughening hydrogels, due to their versatile functionalization and large specific surface area. However, chemically linked SiO2 nanocomposite hydrogels often exhibited negligible fatigue resistance and poor self-recoverable properties due to the irreversible cleavage of covalent bonds. Here, we proposed a novel strategy to improve stretchability, fatigue resistance and self-recoverable properties of hydrogels by using SiO2-g-poly(butyl acrylate) core-shell inorganic-organic hybrid latex particles as hydrophobic crosslinking centers for hydrophobic association. The obtained hydrogel could distribute the surrounding applied stress by disentanglement of the hybrid latex particles from hydrophobic segments. Based on this strategy, the formulated hydrogels showed an excellent tensile strength of 1.48 MPa, superior stretchability of 2511% and remarkable toughness of 12.62 MJ m-3. Moreover, the hydrogels owned extraordinary anti-fatigue, rapid self-recovery and puncture resistance properties. Therefore, this strategy provided a novel pathway for developing advanced soft materials with potential applications in biomedical engineering, such as tendons, muscles, cartilages, etc.

Poly r(C) binding protein is post-transcriptionally repressed by MiR-490-3p to potentiate squamous cell carcinoma.

Squamous cell skin carcinoma remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality with a huge cost of treatment, necessitating discovery and validation of potent therapeutic targets. Poly r(C) binding protein 1 (PCBP1) has been previously shown to function as a tumor suppressor. Previous work has shown that PCBP1 expression is inversely correlated to maintenance of cancer stem cells in squamous cell skin carcinoma and prostate cancer, respectively. However, the precise mechanism that regulates PCBP1 expression has not been elucidated. Here, we show that loss of PCBP1 protein expression observed in CD34+ COLO-16 cells is orchestrated by translational silencing. Translational silencing is caused by targeting of PCBP1 mRNA by miR-490-3p. Exogenous manipulation of miR-490-3p levels can accordingly modulate PCBP1 protein expression, thus suggesting that miR-490-3p as a potential biomarker in squamous cell skin cancer with therapeutic benefits.

Polymeric Nanomedicine for Combined Gene/Chemotherapy Elicits Enhanced Tumor Suppression.

Combination treatment through simultaneous delivery of DNA and anticancer drugs with nanoparticles has been demonstrated to be an elegant and efficient approach for cancer therapy. Herein, we employed a combination therapy for eliminating both the tumor cells and intratumoral neovascular network based on the nanoplatform we designed. Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) gene, a powerful antiangiogenic agent, and the clinically widely used chemotherapy agent paclitaxel (PTX) were simultaneously encapsulated in the same nanoparticle by a modified double-emulsion solvent evaporation method. The dual-drug-loaded nanoparticles (D/P-NPs) exhibited a uniform spherical morphology and released PTX and PEDF gene in a sustained manner. D/P-NPs showed an enhanced antitumor effect on C26 and A549 cells and a stronger inhibitory activity on proliferation of HUVECs. Moreover, D/P-NPs could dramatically elevate the PEDF expression levels in both C26 and A549 cells in comparison with PEDF gene loaded nanoparticles and significantly promote the cellular uptake of PTX. Additionally, microtubules were stabilized and G2/M phase arrest along with a higher subG1 cell population was induced by D/P-NPs in contrast to PTX or PTX loaded nanoparticles. Besides, D/P-NPs showed sustained release of PTX and PEDF gene in tumors as well as long-term gene expression. A significantly improved anticancer effect was also demonstrated in a C26 subcutaneous tumor model using this combinational therapy. D/P-NPs could sharply reduce the microvessel density and significantly promoted tumor cell apoptosis in vivo. More importantly, the in vivo distribution, serological and biochemical analysis, and H&E staining revealed that D/P-NPs had no obvious toxicity. Our study suggested that this novel polymeric nanomedicine had great potential for improving the therapeutic efficacy of combined gene/chemotherapy of cancer.

The role of D-dimers in the diagnosis of acute aortic dissection.

Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is a life threatening cardiovascular medical emergency with a poor prognosis. To explore the utility of D-dimers (DD) in the diagnosis of AAD, we performed a prospective study and conducted a meta-analysis of previous studies. 368 suspected patients were enrolled, including AAD n = 89, PE n = 12, AMI n = 167, normal controls n = 100. All patients had a DD test immediately after admission. We then performed a comprehensive computer search to identify studies investigating using DD as a screening tool for AAD. Finally, we pooled these data to estimate sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios (LRs) by using DerSimonian-Laird random-effects models. The DD concentrations in the AAD group were significantly higher than those in the AMI and normal control groups. However, the DD level of 500 ng/ml had a poor sensitivity of 51.7 % and specificity of 89.2 % in the diagnosis of AAD. Subgroup analyses found that DD only showed a well discriminative ability of distinguishing AAD patients from normal controls (specificity and positive LR was 97 % and 17.2, respectively). The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative LR in our meta-analysis was 89, 68 %, 2.71, 0.07, respectively. In conclusion, our results suggest that plasma DD levels cannot add to the certainty of AAD diagnosis and it is not a good biomarker for AAD. In the future, prospective research on patients from many parts of the world is warranted to validate our findings. In addition, different controls, methods of plasma DD assays and other factors should be considered.

α, ω-Cholesterol-functionalized low molecular weight polyethylene glycol as a novel modifier of cationic liposomes for gene delivery.

Here, three novel cholesterol (Ch)/low molecular weight polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugates, termed α, ω-cholesterol-functionalized PEG (Ch2-PEGn), were successfully synthesized using three kinds of PEG with different average molecular weight (PEG600, PEG1000 and PEG2000). The purpose of the study was to investigate the potential application of novel cationic liposomes (Ch2-PEGn-CLs) containing Ch2-PEGn in gene delivery. The introduction of Ch2-PEGn affected both the particle size and zeta potential of cationic liposomes. Ch2-PEG2000 effectively compressed liposomal particles and Ch2-PEG2000-CLs were of the smallest size. Ch2-PEG1000 and Ch2-PEG2000 significantly decreased zeta potentials of Ch2-PEGn-CLs, while Ch2-PEG600 did not alter the zeta potential due to the short PEG chain. Moreover, the in vitro gene transfection efficiencies mediated by different Ch2-PEGn-CLs also differed, in which Ch2-PEG600-CLs achieved the strongest GFP expression than Ch2-PEG1000-CLs and Ch2-PEG2000-CLs in SKOV-3 cells. The gene delivery efficacy of Ch2-PEGn-CLs was further examined by addition of a targeting moiety (folate ligand) in both folate-receptor (FR) overexpressing SKOV-3 cells and A549 cells with low expression of FR. For Ch2-PEG1000-CLs and Ch2-PEG2000-CLs, higher molar ratios of folate ligand resulted in enhanced transfection efficacies, but Ch2-PEG600-CLs had no similar in contrast. Additionally, MTT assay proved the reduced cytotoxicities of cationic liposomes after modification by Ch2-PEGn. These findings provide important insights into the effects of Ch2-PEGn on cationic liposomes for delivering genes, which would be beneficial for the development of Ch2-PEGn-CLs-based gene delivery system.

[Nondestructive evaluation of wheat quality using terahertz time domain spectroscopy].

Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) is used to investigate the spectra properties of the wheat kernel with various deterioration degrees in the frequency range of 0.2-1.6 THz. The absorption coefficient and refractive index of normal, worm-eaten, moldy and sprouting wheat kernel were calculated. Comparison of the experimental data, clearly indicates that changes in the absorption coefficient and refractive index are recorded, different wheat samples have different optical parameters. The absorption coefficient of normal wheat sample is more obvious and higher than others; refractive index increases as the frequency increases. THz-TDS can be employed to evaluate the quality of wheat kernel nondestructively. The results show that THz-TDS is a promising and new experimental method for quality analyses and control for agricultural production detection. This study will provide an important guidance for nondestructive detecting the quality of stored-grain.

[Application of THz technology to nondestructive detection of agricultural product quality].

With recent development of THz sources and detector, applications of THz radiation to nondestructive testing and quality control have expanded in many fields, such as agriculture, safety inspection and quality control, medicine, biochemistry, communication etc. Compared with other detection technique, being a new kind of technique, THz radiation has low energy, good perspectivity, and high signal-to-noise ratio, and thus can obtain physical, chemical and biological information. This paper first introduces the basic concept of THz radiation and the major properties, then gives an extensive review of recent research progress in detection of the quality of agricultural products via THz technique, analyzes the existing shortcomings of THz detection and discusses the outlook of potential application, finally proposes the new application of THz technique to detection of quality of stored grain.

Assessments of Subjective Visual Gravity and Spontaneous Nystagmus in Patients With Vestibular Neuritis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the correlation between the spontaneous nystagmus (SN) and the subjective visual vertical/horizontal (SVV/SVH) among patients with vestibular neuritis (VN) at the different head positions. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Affiliated Sixth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. METHODS: This study evaluated the SVV/SVH in both healthy subjects and patients with VN. These evaluations were performed in 5 different head positions: upright, 45° tilt to the left, 90° tilt to the left, 45° tilt to the right, and 90° tilt to the right. Additionally, the intensity of SN, as measured by slow-phase velocity, was recorded. RESULTS: In patients with VN, a significant correlation was observed between SN and SVV/SVH in an upright position. The intensity of SN was higher when the head was tilted 90° toward the affected side compared to other positions. The SVV/SVH displayed an ipsiversive shift, when the head was tilted toward both the lesion and unaffected sides, exhibiting a contraversive direction. Furthermore, the changes in position-induced SN were consistent with the displacements of SVV and SVH caused by head tilt. CONCLUSION: The presence of SN in patients with VN was observed to vary across different head position. These variations could potentially be attributed to the diverse activation patterns of the mechanical properties of otolith organs that are induced by head tilts.

Reversing the Interfacial Electric Field in Metal Phosphide Heterojunction by Fe-Doping for Large-Current Oxygen Evolution Reaction.

Developing non-precious-metal electrocatalysts that can operate with a low overpotential at a high current density for industrial application is challenging. Heterogeneous bimetallic phosphides have attracted much interest. Despite high hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) performance, the ordinary oxygen evolution reaction (OER) performance hinders their practical use. Herein, it is shown that Fe-doping reverses and enlarges the interfacial electrical field at the heterojunction, turning the H intermediate favorable binding sites for HER into O intermediate favorable sites for OER. Specifically, the self-supported heterojunction catalysts on nickel foam (CoP@Ni2P/NF and Fe-CoP@Fe-Ni2P/NF) are readily synthesized. They only require the overpotentials of 266 and 274 mV to drive a large current density of 1000 mA cm-2 (j1000) for HER and OER, respectively. Furthermore, a water splitting cell equipped with these electrodes only requires a voltage of 1.724 V to drive j1000 with excellent durability, demonstrating the potential of industrial application. This work offers new insights on interfacial engineering for heterojunction catalysts.

Thermo-sensitive PLGA-PEG-PLGA hydrogel for sustained release of EGF to inhibit cervical cancer recurrence.

Overexpression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in cancer is a key cause of recurrence of cervical cancer (CC). Although the EGF-EGFR pathway has been studied for decades, preventing tumor growth and recurrence caused by peripheral EGF remains a great challenge. In this work, a strategy is proposed to reduce the stimulation of high concentration EGF on tumor growth by using a thermo-sensitive hydrogel. The hydrogel is a triblock copolymer composed of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and poly (lactide glycolide) (PLGA). Based on the excellent temperature sensitivity, carrier capacity, swelling property and biocompatibility, the hydrogel can absorb the liquid around the tumor by injection and release EGF continuously at low concentration. The inhibitory effect of hydrogel on tumor growth is fully confirmed by an implanted tumor mouse model with human cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa) using triple-immunodeficient NCG mice. Compared with free EGF, the EGF-loaded hydrogel can hardly induce surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response, which proves that hydrogel can effectively weaken cytoskeleton rearrangement and inhibit cell migration by continuously releasing low concentration EGF. In addition, the EGF-loaded hydrogel can reduce cell proliferation by delaying the progress of cell cycle progression. Taken together, the hydrogel can effectively protect tumor microenvironment from the stimulation of high concentration EGF, delay cancer cellular processes and tumor growth, and thus providing an approach for inhibiting tumor recurrence of CC.

Balancing the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of interferon-α2b and human serum albumin fusion protein by proteolytic or reductive cleavage increases its in vivo therapeutic efficacy.

Human serum albumin (HSA) fusion (Albufusion) technology has evolved to be a general strategy to increase the in vivo half-lives of therapeutic proteins. However, because of the steric hindrance effect of HSA, conventional Albufusion technology improves the pharmacokinetics (PK) at the cost of pharmacodynamics (PD). To achieve balanced PK and PD of interferon-α2b (IFN-α2b) and HSA fusion protein, protease cleavage sites or disulfide linkage that enabled releasing of intact IFN-α2b with full activity was introduced between these two moieties. Nonreleasable and releasable fusion proteins showed similar cell surface receptor binding affinities; however, releasable fusion proteins exhibited release efficiency proportional increase of in vitro antiviral and antiproliferative activities. The release rate also had a profound impact on the in vivo pharmaceutical properties of fusion proteins. Releasable fusion proteins with intermediate release rate had the most balanced PK and PD, which translated into improved therapeutic efficacy in the HT29 human colon cancer xenograft model. Releasable Albufusion (rAlbufusion) allows tailored design of the PK/PD profile and greatly extends the utility of conventional Albufusion technology.

Influence of different irrigation methods on the alfalfa rhizosphere soil fungal communities in an arid region.

Xinjiang is the largest arid and saline agricultural region in China. The common irrigation methods in this area are traditional flood irrigation and drip irrigation. In this study, we investigated the effects of these two irrigation methods on the fungal diversity, community structures, and functions in alfalfa rhizosphere soil as well as the associated environmental factors in northern Tianshan Mountain (Xinjiang, China). Soil enzyme activities (urease and neutral phosphatase) were significantly higher in the drip-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil than in the flood-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil, whereas the fungal alpha diversity in the drip-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil was significantly lower than that in the flood-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil. Six dominant fungal phyla were identified (>0.1%), with Ascomycota being the most abundant in all soils, followed by Basidiomycota (5.47%), Mortierellomycota (1.07%), Glomeromycota (0.55%), Rozellomycota (0.27%), and Chytridiomycota (0.14%). Ascomycota and Glomeromycota species were significantly less abundant in drip-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil than in flood-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil. A LEFSe analysis identified Cladosporiaceae (20.8%) species as the most abundant marker fungi in drip-irrigated alfalfa rhizosphere soil. Of the 13 fungal functional groups identified on the basis of the functional annotation using the FUNGuild database, Ectomycorrhizal (22.29%) was the primary functional group. Compared with flood irrigation, drip irrigation significantly decreased the relative abundance of Ectomycorrhizal and Arbuscular_Mycorrhizal, while increasing the relative abundance of Plant_Pathogen, although not significantly (P = 0.19). Available potassium was revealed to be the main environmental factor influencing soil enzyme activities, fungal alpha diversity, fungal community structures, and fungal functions in response to the different irrigation methods. In conclusion, drip irrigation may be more appropriate than flood irrigation in the Tianshan dryland agricultural area for enhancing soil enzyme activities, but it may also increase the abundance of plant pathogenic fungi in the soil.

Machine learning approaches for diagnosing depression using EEG: A review.

Depression has become one of the most crucial public health issues, threatening the quality of life of over 300 million people throughout the world. Nevertheless, the clinical diagnosis of depression is now still hampered by behavioral diagnostic methods. Due to the lack of objective laboratory diagnostic criteria, accurate identification and diagnosis of depression remained elusive. With the rise of computational psychiatry, a growing number of studies have combined resting-state electroencephalography with machine learning (ML) to alleviate diagnosis of depression in recent years. Despite the exciting results, these were worrisome of these studies. As a result, ML prediction models should be continuously improved to better screen and diagnose depression. Finally, this technique would be used for the diagnosis of other psychiatric disorders in the future.

Evaluating a potential model to analyze the function of the gut microbiota of the giant panda.

To contribute to the conservation of endangered animals, the utilization of model systems is critical to analyze the function of their gut microbiota. In this study, the results of a fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) experiment with germ-free (GF) mice receiving giant panda or horse fecal microbiota showed a clear clustering by donor microbial communities in GF mice, which was consistent with the results of blood metabolites from these mice. At the genus level, FMT re-established approximately 9% of the giant panda donor microbiota in GF mice compared to about 32% for the horse donor microbiota. In line with this, the difference between the panda donor microbiota and panda-mice microbiota on whole-community level was significantly larger than that between the horse donor microbiota and the horse-mice microbiota. These results were consistent with source tracking analysis that found a significantly higher retention rate of the horse donor microbiota (30.9%) than the giant panda donor microbiota (4.0%) in GF mice where the microbiota remained stable after FMT. Further analyzes indicated that the possible reason for the low retention rate of the panda donor microbiota in GF mice was a low relative abundance of Clostridiaceae in the panda donor microbiota. Our results indicate that the donor microbiota has a large effect on GF mice microbiota after FMT.

Ultrathin and Highly Tough Hydrogel Films for Multifunctional Strain Sensors.

With good flexibility and biocompatibility, hydrogel-based sensors have been widely used in human motion detection, artificial intelligence, human-machine interface, and other fields. Previous research on hydrogel-based sensors has focused on improving the mechanical properties and signal transmission sensitivity. With the development of human smart devices, there is an increasing demand for hydrogel sensor comfort and more application functions, such as ultrathin structures and recognition functions for contact surfaces, which are realized with higher requirements for the thickness, flexibility, friction resistance, and biocompatibility of hydrogels. Inspired by the ultrathin and flexible characteristics of human organ biofilms, we constructed conductive hydrogel films by using the flim-casting and glycerol-H2O secondary hydration methods. This ultrathin structure enables the hydrogel films to have a high elongation at break of 523.3%, a stress of 3.5 MPa, and a good friction resistance. Combined with the excellent sensing properties (gauge factor = 2.1 and a response time of 200 ms), the hydrogel film-based sensor can not only record human motion signals but also recognize the surface texture and roughness of objects, such as glass, brushes, wood, and sandpaper with mesh sizes of 80, 50, and 24, accurately. In addition, this hydrogel film has a series of excellent properties such as UV shielding, antiswelling ability, and good biocompatibility. This research provides a novel way for the development of emerging soft-material smart devices, such as hydrogel-based electronic skin and soft robots.

Durable and Controllable Smart Windows Based on Thermochromic Hydrogels.

In recent years, the use of smart windows to adjust sunlight to achieve energy conversion has received increasing attention. In this paper, a novel smart window was easily prepared by using thermochromic hydrogels as an interlayer and indium tin oxide films as an electric heating layer. The shielding transmission rates of visible and near-infrared light reached 88.3 and 85.4% at the temperature of 25 °C, respectively. However, the transmittance at a light wavelength of 550 nm was greater than 70% after applying voltage. The smart windows with different components could possess thermochromic temperature ranging from 28 to 35 °C, which was suitable for daily life. The smart window could maintain a stable reversible thermochromic transition. Importantly, the time of light transition and the demand of energy efficiency could be adjusted by controlling the magnitude of the output voltage, which benefited the development of energy-efficient materials.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Robin Accentor Prunella rubeculoides (Passeriformes: Prunellidea).

In this paper, we determined and described the complete mitochondrial genome of Robin Accentor (Prunella rubeculoides), the first complete mitogenome. The complete genome of P. rubeculoides was 16,796 bp in length and contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, two ribosome RNA genes, and one non-coding control region. The overall base composition of the mitochondrial DNA was 29.7% for A, 23.7% for T, 15.6% for G, and 31.0% for C, with a GC content of 46.6%. This information of P. rubeculoides mitogenome is significance for phylogenetic studies of the family Prunellidea.