Martian dunes indicative of wind regime shift in line with end of ice age.

Orbital observations suggest that Mars underwent a recent 'ice age' (roughly 0.4-2.1 million years ago), during which a latitude-dependent ice-dust mantle (LDM)1,2 was emplaced. A subsequent decrease in obliquity amplitude resulted in the emergence of an 'interglacial period'1,3 during which the lowermost latitude LDM ice4-6 was etched and removed, returning it to the polar cap. These observations are consistent with polar cap stratigraphy1,7, but lower- to mid-latitude in situ surface observations in support of a glacial-interglacial transition that can be reconciled with mesoscale and global atmospheric circulation models8 is lacking. Here we present a suite of measurements obtained by the Zhurong rover during its traverse across the southern LDM region in Utopia Planitia, Mars. We find evidence for a stratigraphic sequence involving initial barchan dune formation, indicative of north-easterly winds, cementation of dune sediments, followed by their erosion by north-westerly winds, eroding the barchan dunes and producing distinctive longitudinal dunes, with the transition in wind regime consistent with the end of the ice age. The results are compatible with the Martian polar stratigraphic record and will help improve our understanding of the ancient climate history of Mars9.

Dissipative coupling-induced phonon lasing.

Phonon lasers, as the counterpart of photonic lasers, have been intensively studied in a large variety of systems; however, (all) most of them are based on the directly coherent pumping. Intuitively, dissipation is unfavorable for lasing. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a mechanism of generating phonon lasing from the dissipative coupling in a multimode optomechanical system. By precisely engineering the dissipations of two membranes and tuning the intensity modulation of the cavity light, the two-membrane-in-the-middle system exhibits non-Hermitian characteristics and the cavity-mediated interaction between two nanomechanical resonators becomes purely dissipative. The level attraction and damping repulsion are clearly exhibited as the signature of dissipative coupling. After the exceptional point, a non-Hermitian phase transition, where eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenmodes coalesce, two phonon modes are simultaneously excited into the self-sustained oscillation regime by increasing the interaction strength over a critical value (threshold). In distinct contrast to conventional phonon lasers, the measurement of the second-order phonon correlation reveals the oscillatory and biexponential phases in the nonlasing regime as well as the coherence phase in the lasing regime. Our study provides a method to study phonon lasers in a non-Hermitian open system and could be applied to a wide range of disciplines, including optics, acoustics, and quantum many-body physics.

Lethal variant in the C2A domain may cause severe SYT1-associated neurodevelopmental disorder in the newborns.

Synaptotagmin-1 (SYT1) plays a pivotal role in regulating presynaptic processes, including neurotransmitter release. SYT1 variants perturb synaptic vesicle endocytosis and exocytosis, resulting in a series of neurodevelopmental disorders defined as Baker-Gordon syndrome. Herein, we report the case of a newborn with dysmorphic facial appearance, severe hypotonia, poor feeding, gastroesophageal reflux, and an inability to eat and breathe, diagnosed with Baker-Gordon syndrome. A retrospective search was performed on a newborn with Baker-Gordon syndrome. Medical charts were reviewed, with focus on the clinical presentation, diagnostic process, and treatment outcomes. Whole-genome high-throughput DNA sequencing was performed to identify genetic variants. Whole-exome sequencing identified the likely pathogenic variant as SYT1 C.551 T > C(p.V184A). Sanger sequencing results indicated that this variant was a de novo mutation in a conservative site located in the C2A domain of the protein. The patient died at 57 days old because of severe feeding and breathing problems. Our findings of a novel lethal variant in the C2A domain of SYT1 in the youngest patient diagnosed infantile Baker-Gordon syndrome who presented with the most severe hypotonia reported to date expands the spectrum of SYT1- associated neurodevelopmental disorders.

Anomalous thermodynamic cost of clock synchronization.

Clock synchronization is critically important in positioning, navigation and timing systems. While its performance has been intensively studied in a wide range of disciplines, much less is known for the fundamental thermodynamics of clock synchronization‒what limits the precision and how to optimize the energy cost for clock synchronization. Here, we report the first experimental investigation of two stochastic autonomous clocks synchronization, unveiling the thermodynamic relation between the entropy cost and clock synchronization in an open cavity optomechanical system. Two interacting clocks are synchronized spontaneously owing to the disparate decay rates of hybrid modes by engineering the controllable cavity-mediated dissipative coupling. The measured dependence of the degree of synchronization on the overall entropy cost exhibits an unexpected non-monotonic characteristic, while the relation between the degree of synchronization and the entropy cost for the synchronization is monotonically decreasing. The investigation of transient dynamics of clock synchronization exposes a trade-off between energy and time consumption. Our results demonstrate the possibility of clock synchronization in an effective linear system, reveal the fundamental relation between clock synchronization and thermodynamics, and have a great potential for precision measurements, distributed quantum networks, and biological science.

HMOX1-overexpressing mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes facilitate diabetic wound healing by promoting angiogenesis and fibroblast function.

Many scholars have suggested that exosomes (Exos) can carry active molecules to induce angiogenesis and thus accelerate diabetic wound healing. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) encoded by the gene HMOX1 promotes wound healing in DM by enhancing angiogenesis. Nevertheless, whether HMOX1 regulates wound healing in DM through mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes (MSC-Exos) remains to be further explored. The primary isolated- and cultured-cells expressed MSC-specific marker proteins, and had low immunogenicity and multi-differentiation potential, which means that MSCs were successfully isolated in this study. Notably, HO-1 protein expression was significantly higher in Exo-HMOX1 than in Exos, indicating that HMOX1 could be delivered to Exos as an MSCs-secreted protein. After verifying the -Exo structure, fibroblasts, keratinocytes, and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were incubated with Exo-HMOX1 or Exo, and the findings displayed that Exo-HMOX1 introduction promoted the proliferation and migration of fibroblasts, keratinocytes and the angiogenic ability of HUVECs in vitro study. After establishing diabetic wound model mice, PBS, Exo, and Exo-HMOX1 were subcutaneously injected into multiple sites on the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 14th day, DM injected with Exo-HMOX1 showed faster wound healing, re-epithelialization, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis than those in PBS and Exo groups in vitro study. In summary, Exo-HMOX1 could enhance the activity of fibroblasts, keratinocytes, and HUVEC, and accelerate wound healing by promoting angiogenesis in DM.

A Vascular Feature Detection and Matching Method Based on Dual-Branch Fusion and Structure Enhancement.

How to obtain internal cavity features and perform image matching is a great challenge for laparoscopic 3D reconstruction. This paper proposes a method for detecting and associating vascular features based on dual-branch weighted fusion vascular structure enhancement. Our proposed method is divided into three stages, including analyzing various types of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) images and designing a universal preprocessing framework to make our method generalized. We propose a Gaussian weighted fusion vascular structure enhancement algorithm using the dual-branch Frangi measure and MFAT (multiscale fractional anisotropic tensor) to address the structural measurement differences and uneven responses between venous vessels and microvessels, providing effective structural information for vascular feature extraction. We extract vascular features through dual-circle detection based on branch point characteristics, and introduce NMS (non-maximum suppression) to reduce feature point redundancy. We also calculate the ZSSD (zero sum of squared differences) and perform feature matching on the neighboring blocks of feature points extracted from the front and back frames. The experimental results show that the proposed method has an average accuracy and repeatability score of 0.7149 and 0.5612 in the Vivo data set, respectively. By evaluating the quantity, repeatability, and accuracy of feature detection, our method has more advantages and robustness than the existing methods.

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals tumor heterogeneity, microenvironment, and drug-resistance mechanisms of recurrent glioblastoma.

Glioblastomas are highly heterogeneous brain tumors. Despite the availability of standard treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), i.e., Stupp protocol, which involves surgical resection followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy, glioblastoma remains refractory to treatment and recurrence is inevitable. Moreover, the biology of recurrent glioblastoma remains unclear. Increasing evidence has shown that intratumoral heterogeneity and the tumor microenvironment contribute to therapeutic resistance. However, the interaction between intracellular heterogeneity and drug resistance in recurrent GBMs remains controversial. The aim of this study was to map the transcriptome landscape of cancer cells and the tumor heterogeneity and tumor microenvironment in recurrent and drug-resistant GBMs at a single-cell resolution and further explore the mechanism of drug resistance of GBMs. We analyzed six tumor tissue samples from three patients with primary GBM and three patients with recurrent GBM in which recurrence and drug resistance developed after treatment with the standard Stupp protocol using single-cell RNA sequencing. Using unbiased clustering, nine major cell clusters were identified. Upregulation of the expression of stemness-related and cell-cycle-related genes was observed in recurrent GBM cells. Compared with the initial GBM tissues, recurrent GBM tissues showed a decreased proportion of microglia, consistent with previous reports. Finally, vascular endothelial growth factor A expression and the blood-brain barrier permeability were high, and the O6 -methylguanine DNA methyltransferase-related signaling pathway was activated in recurrent GBM. Our results delineate the single-cell map of recurrent glioblastoma, tumor heterogeneity, tumor microenvironment, and drug-resistance mechanisms, providing new insights into treatment strategies for recurrent glioblastomas.

Signatures of Prethermalization in a Quenched Cavity-Mediated Long-Range Interacting Fermi Gas.

The coupling of ultracold quantum gases to an optical cavity provides an ideal system for studying the novel long-range interacting nonequilibrium dynamics. Here we report an experimental observation of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of a degenerate Fermi gas in the cavity after quenching the pump strength over a superradiant quantum phase transition. The relaxation dynamics exhibits impressively different stages of a delay, violent relaxation, long-lifetime prethermalization, and slowly final thermalization due to the photon-mediated long-range interaction with dissipation. Importantly, we reveal that the lifetime of the system stayed on the prethermalization exhibits the superlinear scaling of the atom number. Furthermore, we show that the backaction of the superradiant cavity field on the gas causes the exchange of atoms between the normal and superradiant state in the early evolution and then induces the prethermalization. This work opens an avenue to explore complex nonequilibrium dynamics of the dissipatively long-range interacting Fermi gases.

Multiscale Deblurred Feature Extraction Network for Automatic Four-Rod Target Detection in MRTD Measuring Process of Thermal Imagers.

The minimum resolvable temperature difference (MRTD) at which a four-rod target can be resolved is a critical parameter used to assess the comprehensive performance of thermal imaging systems, which is important for technological innovation in military and other fields. Recently, there have been some attempts to use an automatic objective approach based on deep learning to take the place of the classical manual subjective MRTD measurement approach, which is strongly affected by the psychological subjective factors of the experimenter and is limited in accuracy and speed. However, the scale variability of four-rod targets and the low pixels of infrared thermal cameras have turned out to be a challenging problem for automatic MRTD measurement. We propose a multiscale deblurred feature extraction network (MDF-Net), a backbone based on a yolov5 neural network, in an attempt to solve the aforementioned problem. We first present a global attention mechanism (GAM) attention module to represent strong images of the four-rod targets. Next, a Rep VGG module is introduced to decrease the blur. Our experiments show that the proposed method achieves the desired effect and state-of-the-art detection results, which innovatively improve the accuracy of four-rod target detection to 82.3% and thus make it possible for the thermal imagers to see further and to respond faster and more accurately.

A Novel Evaluation Method for SLAM-Based 3D Reconstruction of Lumen Panoramas.

Laparoscopy is employed in conventional minimally invasive surgery to inspect internal cavities by viewing two-dimensional images on a monitor. This method has a limited field of view and provides insufficient information for surgeons, increasing surgical complexity. Utilizing simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology to reconstruct laparoscopic scenes can offer more comprehensive and intuitive visual feedback. Moreover, the precision of the reconstructed models is a crucial factor for further applications of surgical assistance systems. However, challenges such as data scarcity and scale uncertainty hinder effective assessment of the accuracy of endoscopic monocular SLAM reconstructions. Therefore, this paper proposes a technique that incorporates existing knowledge from calibration objects to supplement metric information and resolve scale ambiguity issues, and it quantifies the endoscopic reconstruction accuracy based on local alignment metrics. The experimental results demonstrate that the reconstructed models restore realistic scales and enable error analysis for laparoscopic SLAM reconstruction systems. This suggests that for the evaluation of monocular SLAM three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction accuracy in minimally invasive surgery scenarios, our proposed scheme for recovering scale factors is viable, and our evaluation outcomes can serve as criteria for measuring reconstruction precision.

Wearable Optical Fiber Sensors in Medical Monitoring Applications: A Review.

Wearable optical fiber sensors have great potential for development in medical monitoring. With the increasing demand for compactness, comfort, accuracy, and other features in new medical monitoring devices, the development of wearable optical fiber sensors is increasingly meeting these requirements. This paper reviews the latest evolution of wearable optical fiber sensors in the medical field. Three types of wearable optical fiber sensors are analyzed: wearable optical fiber sensors based on Fiber Bragg grating, wearable optical fiber sensors based on light intensity changes, and wearable optical fiber sensors based on Fabry-Perot interferometry. The innovation of wearable optical fiber sensors in respiration and joint monitoring is introduced in detail, and the main principles of three kinds of wearable optical fiber sensors are summarized. In addition, we discuss their advantages, limitations, directions to improve accuracy and the challenges they face. We also look forward to future development prospects, such as the combination of wireless networks which will change how medical services are provided. Wearable optical fiber sensors offer a viable technology for prospective continuous medical surveillance and will change future medical benefits.

Fine mapping of powdery mildew resistance gene MlWE74 derived from wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides) in an NBS-LRR gene cluster.

KEY MESSAGE: Powdery mildew resistance gene MlWE74, originated from wild emmer wheat accession G-748-M, was mapped in an NBS-LRR gene cluster of chromosome 2BS. Wheat powdery mildew, caused by Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici (Bgt), is a globally devastating disease. Wild emmer wheat (Triticum turgidum var. dicoccoides) is a valuable genetic resource for improving disease resistance in common wheat. A powdery mildew resistance gene was transferred to hexaploid wheat line WE74 from wild emmer accession G-748-M. Genetic analysis revealed that the powdery mildew resistance in WE74 is controlled by a single dominant gene, herein temporarily designated MlWE74. Bulked segregant analysis (BSA) and molecular mapping delimited MlWE74 to the terminal region of chromosome 2BS flanking by markers WGGBD412 and WGGBH346 within a genetic interval of 0.25 cM and corresponding to 799.9 kb genomic region in the Zavitan reference sequence. Sequence annotation revealed two phosphoglycerate mutase-like genes, an alpha/beta-hydrolases gene, and five NBS-LRR disease resistance genes that could serve as candidates for map-based cloning of MlWE74. The geographical location analysis indicated that MlWE74 is mainly distributed in Rosh Pinna and Amirim regions, in the northern part of Israel, where environmental conditions are favorable to the occurrence of powdery mildew. Moreover, the co-segregated marker WGGBD425 is helpful in marker-assisted transfer of MlWE74 into elite cultivars.

Antibacterial metal nanoclusters.

Combating bacterial infections is one of the most important applications of nanomedicine. In the past two decades, significant efforts have been committed to tune physicochemical properties of nanomaterials for the development of various novel nanoantibiotics. Among which, metal nanoclusters (NCs) with well-defined ultrasmall size and adjustable surface chemistry are emerging as the next-generation high performance nanoantibiotics. Metal NCs can penetrate bacterial cell envelope more easily than conventional nanomaterials due to their ultrasmall size. Meanwhile, the abundant active sites of the metal NCs help to catalyze the bacterial intracellular biochemical processes, resulting in enhanced antibacterial properties. In this review, we discuss the recent developments in metal NCs as a new generation of antimicrobial agents. Based on a brief introduction to the characteristics of metal NCs, we highlight the general working mechanisms by which metal NCs combating the bacterial infections. We also emphasize central roles of core size, element composition, oxidation state, and surface chemistry of metal NCs in their antimicrobial efficacy. Finally, we present a perspective on the remaining challenges and future developments of metal NCs for antibacterial therapeutics.

Prevalence of vitamin A and vitamin D deficiency in hospitalized neonates in Xi'an, China.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of vitamin A and vitamin D deficiency and the associated factors in hospitalized neonates in Xi'an, China. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A total of 524 hospitalized neonates were collected in this study. Serum vitamin A and D concentrations were detected in neonates within two weeks of birth. RESULTS: Serum vitamin A and D concentrations of hospitalized neonates were 0.55±0.21 µmol/L and 42.0±20.6 nmol/L, respectively. They were greater in full-term neonates than in preterm neonates, greater in rural neonates than in urban, and greater in single than in twin (all p<0.001). The prevalence of vitamin A and D deficiency were 14.9% and 33.0%, the prevalence of marginal vitamin A deficiency was 64.7%, and vitamin D insufficiency was 35.1%. Neonatal serum vitamin A and D concentrations were all positively correlated with birth weight and gestational age. Neonatal serum vitamin D concentration was also positively correlated with maternal serum vitamin D concentration. Additionally, neonatal vitamin A concentration was positively correlated with neonatal serum vitamin D concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin A and vitamin D statuses are compromised in hospitalized neonates in Xi'an, especially in premature neonates, low birth weight neonates, twins, and those born in urban areas. Individualized supplementation with vitamin A and vitamin D in neonates should be a clinical consideration.

Identification of suitable reference genes for quantitative reverse transcription PCR in Luffa (Luffa cylindrica).

Reverse transcription real-time quantitative PCR is widely used to quantify gene expression. Reference genes are usually used as internal controls to measure the target gene expression level. To date, there is no consensus on the use of systematically validated reference genes in different tissues of Luffa. This study evaluated the expression stability of 11 candidate reference genes in different tissues using five algorithms (BestKeeper, comparative delta-Ct method, GeNorm, NormFinder, and RefFinder). Protein phosphatase 2A was the most stable gene, while alpha Tubulin was the least stable. The relative expression of ethylene-related genes in different tissues was also analyzed to reveal their role in sex determination. This study provides the basis for using suitable reference genes to evaluate targeted gene expression. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-022-01182-8.

[Levels of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E and their influencing factors in children with obesity]. / è‚¥èƒ–ç—‡å„¿ç«¥è„‚æº¶æ€§ç»´ç”Ÿç´ A、D、Eæ°´å¹³åŠå ¶å½±å“å› ç´ .

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the levels of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E in children with obesity and their influencing factors. METHODS: A total of 273 children with obesity who attended the Department of Clinical Nutrition, Xi'an Children's Hospital, from January 2019 to April 2021 were enrolled as the obesity group. A total of 226 children with normal body weight who underwent physical examination during the same period were enrolled as the control group. Anthropometric parameters and body composition were measured for both groups, and the serum concentrations of vitamins A, D, and E were also measured. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the obesity group had significantly higher serum levels of vitamin A [(1.32±0.21) µmol/L vs (1.16±0.21) µmol/L, P<0.001] and vitamin E [(9.3±1.4) mg/L vs (8.3±1.2) mg/L, P<0.001] and a significant reduction in the level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [(49±22) nmol/L vs (62±24) nmol/L, P<0.001]. In the obesity group, the prevalence rates of marginal vitamin A deficiency, vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency, and vitamin E insufficiency were 5.5% (15/273), 56.8% (155/273), and 4.0% (11/273), respectively. After adjustment for body mass index Z-score and waist-to-height ratio, serum vitamin A level was positively correlated with age (P<0.001), while vitamins E and 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were negatively correlated with age in children with obesity (P<0.001). After adjustment for age, the serum levels of vitamin A, vitamin E and 25-hydroxyvitamin D were not correlated with degree of obesity, percentage of body fat, and duration of obesity in children with obesity, while the serum levels of vitamins A and E were positively correlated with waist-to-height ratio (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There are higher serum levels of vitamins A and E in children with obesity, especially in those with abdominal obesity, while serum vitamin D nutritional status is poor and worsens with age. Therefore, vitamin D nutritional status should be taken seriously for children with obesity, and vitamin D supplementation should be performed when necessary.

Tunable ultrasharp terahertz plasma edge in a lightly doped narrow-gap semiconductor.

Plasma edges in metals typically occur in the visible range, producing characteristic colors of metals. In a lightly doped semiconductor, the plasma edge can occur in the terahertz (THz) frequency range. Due to low scattering rates and variable electron densities in semiconductors, such THz plasma edges can be extremely sharp and greatly tunable. Here, we show that an ultrasharp THz plasma edge exists in a lightly n-doped InSb crystal with a record-high transmittance slope of 80 dB/THz. The frequency at which this sharp edge happens can be readily tuned by changing the temperature, electron density, scattering rate, and sample thickness. The edge frequency exhibited a surprising increase with decreasing temperature below 15 K, which we explain as a result of a weak-to-strong transition in the scattering rate, going from ωτ  ≫ 1 to ωτ âˆ¼ 1. These results indicate that doped narrow-gap semiconductors provide a versatile platform for manipulating THz waves in a controllable manner, especially as a high-pass filter with an unprecedented on/off ratio.

A mutation in LacDWARF1 results in a GA-deficient dwarf phenotype in sponge gourd (Luffa acutangula).

KEY MESSAGE: A dwarfism gene LacDWARF1 was mapped by combined BSA-Seq and comparative genomics analyses to a 65.4 kb physical genomic region on chromosome 05. Dwarf architecture is one of the most important traits utilized in Cucurbitaceae breeding because it saves labor and increases the harvest index. To our knowledge, there has been no prior research about dwarfism in the sponge gourd. This study reports the first dwarf mutant WJ209 with a decrease in cell size and internodes. A genetic analysis revealed that the mutant phenotype was controlled by a single recessive gene, which is designated Lacdwarf1 (Lacd1). Combined with bulked segregate analysis and next-generation sequencing, we quickly mapped a 65.4 kb region on chromosome 5 using F2 segregation population with InDel and SNP polymorphism markers. Gene annotation revealed that Lac05g019500 encodes a gibberellin 3ß-hydroxylase (GA3ox) that functions as the most likely candidate gene for Lacd1. DNA sequence analysis showed that there is an approximately 4 kb insertion in the first intron of Lac05g019500 in WJ209. Lac05g019500 is transcribed incorrectly in the dwarf mutant owing to the presence of the insertion. Moreover, the bioactive GAs decreased significantly in WJ209, and the dwarf phenotype could be restored by exogenous GA3 treatment, indicating that WJ209 is a GA-deficient mutant. All these results support the conclusion that Lac05g019500 is the Lacd1 gene. In addition, RNA-Seq revealed that many genes, including those related to plant hormones, cellular process, cell wall, membrane and response to stress, were significantly altered in WJ209 compared with the wild type. This study will aid in the use of molecular marker-assisted breeding in the dwarf sponge gourd.

Vertical strain and electric field tunable band alignment in type-II ZnO/MoSSe van der Waals heterostructures.

The van der Waals heterostructure (vdWH) has attracted widespread attention as a unique structure for future electronic and optoelectronic devices. In this paper, we constructed the ZnO-SeMoS and ZnO-SMoSe vdWHs and systematically investigated their electronic structures and band alignments considering vertical strain and external electric field effects. It is found that the ZnO-SeMoS and ZnO-SMoSe vdWHs both exhibit type-II band alignment with indirect band gaps of 1.31 and 0.63 eV respectively, depending on the interface characteristics. What's more, the band alignment of these two heterostructures can be tuned to type I or type III, and their band gap can be modified to direct feature by applying vertical strain and an electric field. The results reveal that ZnO/MoSSe vdWHs have promising potential in multi-functional nanodevices, and provide a way to modify the electronic properties of Janus-based heterojunctions using interface characteristics.

Ferulic acid alleviates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury through inhibiting TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Ferulic acid (FA) exhibits anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, antioxidant, neuroprotective, and antihypertensive effects. This study aimed to determine whether FA could ameliorate lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory responses and acute lung injury (ALI) in mice. Mice were challenged with LPS intratracheally to induce ALI 1 h after 3 days of FA (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) or dexamethasone (DEX; 5 mg/kg) administration. The lung tissues and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected 12 h after the LPS challenge. Pretreatment with FA or DEX could attenuate lung histopathological change, complement deposition, and lung wet-to-dry weight ratio of mice injured by LPS. Meanwhile, the influx of neutrophils and macrophages, as well as the production of proinflammatory cytokine (tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin 1 beta [IL-1ß], and IL-6), in BALF of ALI mice was significantly decreased. Moreover, FA or DEX markedly reversed the LPS-induced elevation of myeloperoxidase activity and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 level in lung tissues of ALI mice. In addition, the Western blot analysis demonstrated that FA or DEX effectively inhibited the LPS-induced activation of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway in lung tissues. The current study suggested that the alleviating effect of FA against LPS-induced ALI might be partially due to the inhibition of the inflammatory response via inactivation of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.