iEnhance: a multi-scale spatial projection encoding network for enhancing chromatin interaction data resolution.

Although sequencing-based high-throughput chromatin interaction data are widely used to uncover genome-wide three-dimensional chromatin architecture, their sparseness and high signal-noise-ratio greatly restrict the precision of the obtained structural elements. To improve data quality, we here present iEnhance (chromatin interaction data resolution enhancement), a multi-scale spatial projection and encoding network, to predict high-resolution chromatin interaction matrices from low-resolution and noisy input data. Specifically, iEnhance projects the input data into matrix spaces to extract multi-scale global and local feature sets, then hierarchically fused these features by attention mechanism. After that, dense channel encoding and residual channel decoding are used to effectively infer robust chromatin interaction maps. iEnhance outperforms state-of-the-art Hi-C resolution enhancement tools in both visual and quantitative evaluation. Comprehensive analysis shows that unlike other tools, iEnhance can recover both short-range structural elements and long-range interaction patterns precisely. More importantly, iEnhance can be transferred to data enhancement of other tissues or cell lines of unknown resolution. Furthermore, iEnhance performs robustly in enhancement of diverse chromatin interaction data including those from single-cell Hi-C and Micro-C experiments.

Vacancy-Enhanced Sb-N4 Sites for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction and Zn-Air Battery.

With the advantages of a Fenton-inactive characteristic and unique p electrons that can hybridize with O2 molecules, p-block metal-based single-atom catalysts (SACs) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) have tremendous potential. Nevertheless, their undesirable intrinsic activity caused by the closed d10 electronic configuration remains a major challenge. Herein, an Sb-based SAC featuring carbon vacancy-enhanced Sb-N4 active centers, corroborated by the results of high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy and X-ray absorption fine structure, has been developed for an incredibly effective ORR. The obtained SbSA-N-C demonstrates a positive half-wave potential of 0.905 V and excellent structural stability in alkaline environments. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the carbon vacancies weaken the adsorption between Sb atoms and the OH* intermediate, thus promoting the ORR performance. Practically, the SbSA-N-C-based Zn-air batteries achieve impressive outcomes, such as a high power density of 181 mW cm-2, showing great potential in real-world applications.

Benzoquinone-Lubricated Intercalation in Manganese Oxide for High-Capacity and High-Rate Aqueous Aluminum-Ion Battery.

Aqueous aluminum-ion batteries are attractive post-lithium battery technologies for large-scale energy storage in virtue of abundant and low-cost Al metal anode offering ultrahigh capacity via a three-electron redox reaction. However, state-of-the-art cathode materials are of low practical capacity, poor rate capability, and inadequate cycle life, substantially impeding their practical use. Here layered manganese oxide that is pre-intercalated with benzoquinone-coordinated aluminum ions (BQ-AlxMnO2) as a high-performance cathode material of rechargeable aqueous aluminum-ion batteries is reported. The coordination of benzoquinone with aluminum ions not only extends interlayer spacing of layered MnO2 framework but reduces the effective charge of trivalent aluminum ions to diminish their electrostatic interactions, substantially boosting intercalation/deintercalation kinetics of guest aluminum ions and improving structural reversibility and stability. When coupled with Zn50Al50 alloy anode in 2 m Al(OTf)3 aqueous electrolyte, the BQ-AlxMnO2 exhibits superior rate capability and cycling stability. At 1 A g-1, the specific capacity of BQ-AlxMnO2 reaches ≈300 mAh g-1 and retains ≈90% of the initial value for more than 800 cycles, along with the Coulombic efficiency of as high as ≈99%, outperforming the AlxMnO2 without BQ co-incorporation.

In Situ Engineering Multifunctional Active Sites of Ruthenium-Nickel Alloys for pH-Universal Ampere-Level Current-Density Hydrogen Evolution.

Developing robust non-platinum electrocatalysts with multifunctional active sites for pH-universal hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is crucial for scalable hydrogen production through electrochemical water splitting. Here ultra-small ruthenium-nickel alloy nanoparticles steadily anchored on reduced graphene oxide papers (Ru-Ni/rGOPs) as versatile electrocatalytic materials for acidic and alkaline HER are reported. These Ru-Ni alloy nanoparticles serve as pH self-adaptive electroactive species by making use of in situ surface reconstruction, where surface Ni atoms are hydroxylated to produce bifunctional active sites of Ru-Ni(OH)2 for alkaline HER, and selectively etched to form monometallic Ru active sites for acidic HER, respectively. Owing to the presence of Ru-Ni(OH)2 multi-site surface, which not only accelerates water dissociation to generate reactive hydrogen intermediates but also facilitates their recombination into hydrogen molecules, the self-supported Ru90Ni10/rGOP hybrid electrode only takes overpotential of as low as ≈106 mV to deliver current density of 1000 mA cm-2, and maintains exceptional stability for over 1000 h in 1 m KOH. While in 0.5 m H2SO4, the Ru90Ni10/rGOP hybrid electrode exhibits acidic HER catalytic behavior comparable to commercially available Pt/C catalyst due to the formation of monometallic Ru shell. These electrochemical behaviors outperform some of the best Ru-based catalysts and make it attractive alternative to Pt-based catalysts toward highly efficient HER.

CharID: a two-step model for universal prediction of interactions between chromatin accessible regions.

Open chromatin regions (OCRs) allow direct interaction between cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting factors. Therefore, predicting all potential OCR-mediated loops is essential for deciphering the regulation mechanism of gene expression. However, existing loop prediction tools are restricted to specific anchor types. Here, we present CharID (Chromatin Accessible Region Interaction Detector), a two-step model that combines neural network and ensemble learning to predict OCR-mediated loops. In the first step, CharID-Anchor, an attention-based hybrid CNN-BiGRU network is constructed to discriminate between the anchor and nonanchor OCRs. In the second step, CharID-Loop uses gradient boosting decision tree with chromosome-split strategy to predict the interactions between anchor OCRs. The performance was assessed in three human cell lines, and CharID showed superior prediction performance compared with other algorithms. In contrast to the methods designed to predict a particular type of loops, CharID can detect varieties of chromatin loops not limited to enhancer-promoter loops or architectural protein-mediated loops. We constructed the OCR-mediated interaction network using the predicted loops and identified hub anchors, which are highlighted by their proximity to housekeeping genes. By analyzing loops containing SNPs associated with cardiovascular disease, we identified an SNP-gene loop indicating the regulation mechanism of the GFOD1. Taken together, CharID universally predicts diverse chromatin loops beyond other state-of-the-art methods, which are limited by anchor types, and experimental techniques, which are limited by sensitivities drastically decaying with the genomic distance of anchors. Finally, we hosted Peaksniffer, a user-friendly web server that provides online prediction, query and visualization of OCRs and associated loops.

Role of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in predicting severe acute radiation-induced rectal injury in patients with rectal cancer.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the potential of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) quantitative parameters in predicting severe acute radiation-induced rectal injury (RRI) in rectal cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 49 patients with rectal cancer who underwent neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and rectal MRI including a DCE-MRI sequence from November 2014 to March 2021. Two radiologists independently measured DCE-MRI quantitative parameters, including the forward volume transfer constant (Ktrans), rate constant (kep), fractional extravascular extracellular space volume (ve), and the thickness of the rectal wall farthest away from the tumor. These parameters were compared between mild and severe acute RRI groups based on histopathological assessment. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to analyze statistically significant parameters. RESULTS: Forty-nine patients (mean age, 54 years ± 12 [standard deviation]; 37 men) were enrolled, including 25 patients with severe acute RRI. Ktrans was lower in severe acute RRI group than mild acute RRI group (0.032 min-1 vs 0.054 min-1; p = 0.008), but difference of other parameters (kep, ve and rectal wall thickness) was not significant between these two groups (all p > 0.05). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of Ktrans was 0.72 (95% confidence interval: 0.57, 0.84). With a Ktrans cutoff value of 0.047 min-1, the sensitivity and specificity for severe acute RRI prediction were 80% and 54%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Ktrans demonstrated moderate diagnostic performance in predicting severe acute RRI. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI can provide non-invasive and objective evidence for perioperative management and treatment strategies in rectal cancer patients with acute radiation-induced rectal injury. KEY POINTS: • To our knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate the predictive value of contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) quantitative parameters for severe acute radiation-induced rectal injury (RRI) in patients with rectal cancer. • Forward volume transfer constant (Ktrans), derived from DCE-MRI, exhibited moderate diagnostic performance (AUC = 0.72) in predicting severe acute RRI of rectal cancer, with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 54%. • DCE-MRI is a promising imaging marker for distinguishing the severity of acute RRI in patients with rectal cancer.

PHPB ameliorates memory deficits and reduces oxidative injury in Alzheimer's disease mouse model by activating Nrf2 signaling pathway.

Alzheimer's disease (AD), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, is the most common cause of dementia in elderly people and substantially affects patient quality of life. Oxidative stress is considered a key factor in the development of AD. Nrf2 plays a vital role in maintaining redox homeostasis and regulating neuroinflammatory responses in AD. Previous studies show that potassium 2-(1-hydroxypentyl)-benzoate (PHPB) exerts neuroprotective effects against cognitive impairment in a variety of dementia animal models such as APP/PS1 transgenic mice. In this study we investigated whether PHPB ameriorated the progression of AD by reducing oxidative stress (OS) damage. Both 5- and 13-month-old APP/PS1 mice were administered PHPB (100 mg·kg-1·d-1, i.g.) for 10 weeks. After the cognition assessment, the mice were euthanized, and the left hemisphere of the brain was harvested for analyses. We showed that 5-month-old APP/PS1 mice already exhibited impaired performance in the step-down test, and knockdown of Nrf2 gene only slightly increased the impairment, while knockdown of Nrf2 gene in 13-month-old APP/PS1 mice resulted in greatly worse performance. PHPB administration significantly ameliorated the cognition impairments and enhanced antioxidative capacity in APP/PS1 mice. In addition, PHPB administration significantly increased the p-AKT/AKT and p-GSK3ß/GSK3ß ratios and the expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO-1 in APP/PS1 mice, but these changes were abolished by knockdown of Nrf2 gene. In SK-N-SH APPwt cells and primary mouse neurons, PHPB (10 µM) significantly increased the p-AKT/AKT and p-GSK3ß/GSK3ß ratios and the level of Nrf2, which were blocked by knockdown of Nrf2 gene. In summary, this study demonstrates that PHPB exerts a protective effect via the Akt/GSK3ß/Nrf2 pathway and it might be a promising neuroprotective agent for the treatment of AD.

Dynamic Molecular Interphases Regulated by Trace Dual Electrolyte Additives for Ultralong-Lifespan and Dendrite-Free Zinc Metal Anode.

Metallic zinc is a promising anode material for rechargeable aqueous multivalent metal-ion batteries due to its high capacity and low cost. However, the practical use is always beset by severe dendrite growth and parasitic side reactions occurring at anode/electrolyte interface. Here we demonstrate dynamic molecular interphases caused by trace dual electrolyte additives of D-mannose and sodium lignosulfonate for ultralong-lifespan and dendrite-free zinc anode. Triggered by plating and stripping electric fields, the D-mannose and lignosulfonate species are alternately and reversibly (de-)adsorbed on Zn metal, respectively, to accelerate Zn2+ transportation for uniform Zn nucleation and deposition and inhibit side reactions for high Coulombic efficiency. As a result, Zn anode in such dual-additive electrolyte exhibits highly reversible and dendrite-free Zn stripping/plating behaviors for >6400 hours at 1 mA cm-2, which enables long-term cycling stability of Zn||ZnxMnO2 full cell for more than 2000 cycles.

MRI-detected tumor deposits in cT3 and cT4 rectal cancer following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the identification of tumor deposits (TDs) and the prognostic significance of an MRI tumor regression grade for TDs in patients with rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). METHODS: Ninety-one patients with cT3 or cT4 rectal cancer who underwent surgery following nCRT between August 2014 and June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Changes in pre-nCRT MRI-detected TDs (mrTDs) were described as mrTD regression grade. The diagnostic performance of post-nCRT MRI-detected TDs (ymrTDs) was compared with histopathological reference standard. The correlation between ymrTDs, mrTD regression grade, and disease-free survival (DFS) was assessed. RESULTS: The sensitivity and specificity of ymrTDs were 88.00% and 89.39%, respectively. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.887 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.803-0.944). The 3-year DFS of patients with positive ymrTDs was significantly lower than of the negative group (44.83% vs 82.73%, p < 0.001). The 3-year DFS was 33.33% for patients with poor regression of mrTDs following nCRT and 55.56% for those with moderate regression, compared to 69.23% in good responders and 83.97% in patients without mrTDs (p < 0.001). On multivariable Cox regression, mrTD regression grade was the only independent MRI factor associated with DFS (p = 0.042). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic performance of ymrTDs was moderate. The mrTD regression grade was independently correlated with DFS, which may have a prognostic implication for treatment and follow-up. CLINICAL RELEVANCE STATEMENT: Patients with poor regression of MRI-detected tumor deposits may benefit from more aggressive treatments, such as chemoradiation therapy plus induction or consolidation chemotherapy. KEY POINTS: • MRI provides a preoperative and noninvasive way to visualize tumor deposits (TDs) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT). • Post-nCRT MRI-detected TDs are a poor prognostic marker in cT3 and cT4 rectal cancer patients. • The regression of MRI-detected TDs after nCRT is associated with an improved disease-free survival.

[Network Meta-analysis of Chinese patent medicine containing Hirudo in treatment of atherosclerosis].

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Chinese patent medicines containing Hirudo in the treatment of atherosclerosis(AS) by network Meta-analysis, and to provide evidence-based reference for clinical treatment of AS. The clinical randomized controlled trial(RCT) on the treatment of atherosclerosis with Chinese patent medicines containing Hirudo were searched in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed and EMbase from the establishment of the databases to July 1, 2022. And data extraction and quality assessment of the included RCT was performed according to the Cochrane standards. Stata 17 and ADDIS 1.16.5 were then used for Bayesian model network Meta-analysis. Finally, 67 RCTs with a total sample size of 6 826 cases were included, 3 569 cases in the experimental group and 3 257 cases in the control group, involving three oral Chinese patent medicines. Network Meta-analysis showed that in terms of reducing intima-media thickness(IMT), the top three Chinese patent medicines were Tongxinluo Capsules+sta-tins>Maixuekang Capsules+statins>Maixuekang Capsules. In terms of reducing plaque area, the top one was Maixuekang Capsules+sta-tins, and the other Chinese patent medicines had similar efficacy. For lowering AS Crouse scores, the top three were Maixuekang Capsules>Tongxinluo Capsules+statins>Naoxintong Capsules. For decreasing plaque number, the top three were Naoxintong Capsules+sta-tins>Tongxinluo Capsules+statins>Tongxinluo Capsules. With regard to adverse reactions/events, Naoxintong Capsules+statins had the lo-west incidence. In conclusion, in Chinese patent medicines containing Hirudo for the treatment of AS, Tongxinluo Capsules+statins, Maixuekang Capsules, Maixuekang Capsules+statins, and Naoxintong Capsules+statins were the primary choices to reduce IMT, AS Crouse scores, plaque area, and plaque number, respectively. The efficacy of Chinese patent medicines containing Hirudo with or without statins was more significant than that of statins alone in the four outcome indexes. Additionally, the treatment of AS should be evaluated comprehensively, and attention should be paid to Chinese patent medicines or their combination with western medicine, to optimize the treatment effect and minimize adverse reactions as the benchmark.

Quantitative assessment of the microstructure of the mesorectum with different prognostic statuses by intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighed magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: The mesorectum surrounding the rectum provides an ideal substrate for tumour spread. However, preoperative risk assessment is still an issue. This study aimed to investigate the microstructural features of mesorectum with different prognostic statuses by intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging (IVIM DWI). METHODS: Patients with pathologically proven rectal adenocarcinoma underwent routine high-resolution rectal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and IVIM DWI sequences were acquired. The MRI-detected circumferential resection margin (mrCRM) and extramural vascular invasion (mrEMVI) were evaluated. IVIM parameters of the mesorectum adjacent to (MAT) and distant from (MDT) the tumour were measured and compared between and within the prognostic factor groups. RESULTS: The positive mrCRM (pMAT < 0.001; pMDT = 0.013) and mrEMVI (pMAT = 0.001; pMDT < 0.001) groups demonstrated higher D values in the MAT and MDT than the corresponding negative groups. Conversely, the positive mrCRM (p = 0.001) and mrEMVI (p < 0.001) groups both demonstrated lower f values in the MAT. Similarly, in the self-comparison between the MAT and MDT in the above subgroups, D showed a significant difference in all subgroups (p < 0.001 for all), and f showed a significant difference in the positive mrCRM (p = 0.001) and mrEMVI (p = 0.002) groups. Moreover, the MAT displayed a higher D* in the positive mrCRM (p = 0.014), negative mrCRM (p = 0.009) and negative mrEMVI groups (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The microstructure of the mesorectum in patients with rectal cancer with poor prognostic status shows changes based on IVIM parameters. IVIM parameters might be promising imaging biomarkers for risk assessment of tumour spread in mesorectum preoperatively.

MOF-Derived Fe7 S8 Nanoparticles/N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers as an Ultra-Stable Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have aroused wide concern due to their potential applications in large-scale energy-storage systems. In this work, a hybrid of Fe7 S8 nanoparticles/N-doped carbon nanofibers (Fe7 S8 /N-CNFs) is designed and synthesized via electrospinning. As an anode for SIBs, Fe7 S8 /N-CNFs exhibit a high reversible capacity of 649.9 mAh g-1 at 0.2 A g-1 after 100 cycles, and superior cycling stability for 2000 cycles at 1 A g-1 with only 0.00302% capacity decay per cycle. Such excellent performance originates from: i) Fe7 S8 nanoparticles (average diameter of 17 nm), which shorten the Na+ diffusion distance; ii) the unique 3D N-CNFs, which enhance the conductivity, alleviate the self-agglomeration and large volume change of Fe7 S8 nanoparticles, and offer numerous active sites for Na+ adsorption and paths for electrolyte diffusion. The fascinating structure and superior electrochemical properties of Fe7 S8 /N-CNFs shed light on developing high-performance SIBs anode materials.

Nanoporous Intermetallic Cu3 Sn/Cu Hybrid Electrodes as Efficient Electrocatalysts for Carbon Dioxide Reduction.

Designing highly selective and cost-effective electrocatalysts toward electrochemical carbon dioxide (CO2 ) reduction is crucial for desirable transformation of greenhouse gas into fuels or high-value chemical products. Here, the authors report intermetallic Cu3 Sn that is in situ formed and seamlessly integrated on self-supported bimodal nanoporous Cu skeleton (Cu3 Sn/Cu) via a spontaneous alloying of Sn and Cu as robust electrocatalyst for selective electroreduction of CO2 to CO. By virtue of Sn atoms strengthening CO adsorption on Cu atoms, the intermetallic Cu3 Sn has an intrinsic activity of ≈10.58 µA cm-2 , more than 80-fold higher than that of monometallic Cu. By virtue of hierarchical bicontinuous nanoporous Cu architecture facilitating electron transfer and CO2 and proton mass transport and offering high specific surface areas for full use of electroactive Cu3 Sn sites, the nanoporous Cu3 Sn/Cu hybrid electrodes produce CO at a low overpotential of 0.09 V, and exhibit high partial current density of ≈15 mA cm-2 geo at overpotential of 0.59 V, along with excellent stability and selectivity of 91.5% Faradaic efficiency. The outstanding electrochemical performance make them attractive alternatives to precious Au- and Ag-based electrocatalysts for building low-cost CO2 electrolyzers to selectively produce CO.

Peptide-based system for sensing Pb2+ and molecular logic computing.

Peptides with recognition, assembly, various activities exhibit strong power and application prospects in sensing, material science, biomedicine. However, peptide-based sensing and expanding application is still at an early stage. Herein, a peptide-based sensing and logic system was developed for highly sensitive and selective detection of Pb2+ and implementation of logic operations. Our Pb2+ assay method was ultra-rapid (less than 1 min), direct, simple with detection limit of 0.75 nM. Flexibility and scalability of peptide-based solution system facilitated the execution of sensing and logic operations from simple to complex. This research will not only inspire discovery and comprehensive applications (such as sensing and assembly) of more functional peptides, but also provide more opportunities for development and design of peptide-based systems and molecular information technologies.

Boosting Production of HCOOH from CO2 Electroreduction via Bi/CeOx.

Formic acid (HCOOH) is one of the most promising chemical fuels that can be produced through CO2 electroreduction. However, most of the catalysts for CO2 electroreduction to HCOOH in aqueous solution often suffer from low current density and limited production rate. Herein, we provide a bismuth/cerium oxide (Bi/CeOx ) catalyst, which exhibits not only high current density (149 mA cm-2 ), but also unprecedented production rate (2600 µmol h-1 cm-2 ) with high Faradaic efficiency (FE, 92 %) for HCOOH generation in aqueous media. Furthermore, Bi/CeOx also shows favorable stability over 34 h. We hope this work could offer an attractive and promising strategy to develop efficient catalysts for CO2 electroreduction with superior activity and desirable stability.

Mesoporous Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanospheres as Sulfur Matrix and a Novel Chelate-Modified Separator for High-Performance Room-Temperature Na-S Batteries.

Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT/Na-S) batteries are considered among the most promising next-generation energy storage and conversion systems because of the earth-abundant reserves of sodium and sulfur. These batteries also possess the advantages of high theoretical gravimetric capacity, high energy density, and low cost. Herein, highly uniform Fe3+ /polyacrylamide nanospheres (FPNs) are fabricated on a large-scale by a facile, low-cost approach. Subsequently, mesoporous nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres (PNC-Ns), obtained by carbonizing FPNs, are applied as a sulfur matrix to improve the utilization of sulfur, enhance the overall conductivity of the cathode, and inhibit the shuttling of sodium polysulfides (SPSs). In addition, graphene and FPNs are simultaneously coated onto the side of the separator to form a FPNs-graphene-functionalized separator (FPNs-G/separator); here, the mesoporous FPNs effectively anchor and block the SPSs, while the large specific area graphene sheets eliminate the intrinsic mechanical brittleness of the FPNs and improve the overall conductivity of RT/Na-S batteries. When S/PNC-Ns as a cathode and FPNs-G/separator are assembled into an RT/Na-S battery, it delivers a high discharge capacity (639 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C after 400 cycles), stable cycle life (396 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C after 800 cycles), and good rate performance (228 mAh g-1 at 2 C).

[Semen quality of infertile men carrying hepatitis B virus].

OBJECTIVE: To study the semen parameters of infertile men carrying hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the influence of HBV infection on semen quality. METHODS: We collected the semen samples from 782 infertility males aged 25－35 years old. According to the results of serological examinations, we divided the patients into groups A (HBsAg, HBeAb and HBcAb positive, n = 286), B (HBsAg, HBeAg and HBcAb positive, n = 230) and C (non-HBV control, n = 266), and comparatively analyzed the routine semen parameters, sperm acrosin activity, sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and high DNA stainability (HDS) among the three groups of patients. RESULTS: Compared with the patients of groups B and C, those of group A showed markedly decreased sperm concentration (ï¼»88.20 ± 82.62ï¼½ and ï¼»89.29 ± 53.80ï¼½ vs ï¼»71.49 ± 60.03ï¼½ ×106/ml, P<0.05), progressively motile sperm (PMS) (ï¼»34.88 ± 15.60ï¼½% and ï¼»37.82 ± 13.63ï¼½% vs ï¼»30.70 ± 14.79ï¼½%, P<0.05), sperm motility (ï¼»45.77 ± 16.58ï¼½% and ï¼»48.16 ± 14.03ï¼½% vs ï¼»42.67 ± 17.23ï¼½%, P<0.05), sperm viability (ï¼»82.55 ± 7.55ï¼½% and ï¼»85.26 ± 6.39ï¼½% vs ï¼»81.07 ± 10.19ï¼½%, P>0.05) and morphologically normal sperm (MNS) (ï¼»6.93 ± 4.45ï¼½% and ï¼»7.27 ± 4.43ï¼½% vs ï¼»5.72 ± 3.47ï¼½%, P<0.05), with sperm concentration, PMS, sperm motility, sperm viability and MNS remarkably lower in group B than in C. Sperm acrosin activity was significantly reduced in group A in comparison with groups B and C (ï¼»57.07 ± 26.38ï¼½ vs ï¼»63.03 ± 28.75ï¼½ and ï¼»78.00 ± 33.49ï¼½ µIU/106, P<0.01), remarkably lower in group B than in C (P<0.01). The sperm DFI and HDS, however, were markedly higher in group A than in B (ï¼»14.79 ± 9.46ï¼½% vs ï¼»12.95 ± 7.29ï¼½% and ï¼»11.60 ± 5.98ï¼½%, P<0.05; ï¼»9.62 ± 6.20ï¼½% vs ï¼»8.43 ± 4.72ï¼½% and ï¼»8.41 ± 4.59ï¼½%, P<0.05), and both higher in group B than in C. CONCLUSIONS: Semen quality is lower in infertile men carrying HBV and therefore HBV infection is one of the causes of male infertility.

Correction to: ZNF143 is a regulator of chromatin loop.

There are some errors in Fig. 1. First, owing to a production error, the sub-figure labels a, b, and c were absent in the online version, and the proportion number 55.1% together with its bracket for cell type HelaS3 were messy in Fig. 1a.

Tuning the catalytic activity of a single Mo atom supported on graphene for nitrogen reduction via Se atom doping.

Electrochemical nitrogen (N2) fixation as an effective method has realized the sustainable production of ammonia where efficient electrocatalysts for converting N2 into NH3 at room temperature have become a key scientific issue. Herein, we proposed that the catalytic activity of a single Mo atom supported on graphene (Mo/G) for the nitrogen reduction reaction (NRR) can be tuned by non-metal heteroatom (B, N, P, S, Se etc.) doping. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the Se atom is the best doping element to tune the optimal electronic structure of the Mo atom for catalyzing the NRR among these heteroatoms, leading to the lowest potential of 0.41 V vs. RHE for Mo/SeG, which is much better than the current metal-based catalysts. Our work provided a new strategy to design electrocatalysts for the NRR.

Kinetic and computational molecular docking simulation study of novel kojic acid derivatives as anti-tyrosinase and antioxidant agents.

The novel kojic acid derivatives KAD1 and KAD2 have been demonstrated that they exhibited potent anti-melanogenesis activity in our previous report. In this study, we further study the inhibitory mechanism on mushroom tyrosinase. The inhibitory types of both KADs on diphenolase were classified as mixed type based on the results of the kinetic model. The interaction between KADs and tyrosinase was illustrated by fluorescence quenching, molecular docking and copper chelate activity. The KADs were also evaluated with respect to their antioxidant activities by DPPH and ABTS+ assays. The results showed that KADs have more potent antioxidant activities than kojic acid. Our study could provide new ideas for the development of new anti-tyrosinase and antioxidant agents.