DNase aggravates intestinal microvascular injury in IBD patients by releasing NET-related proteins.

Neutrophils accumulate in the inflammatory mucosa of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and excessive release of NETs (neutrophil extracellular traps may be one of the important factors that cause IBD progression. However, the specific mechanism underlying vascular injury caused by NETs remains unclear. Immunofluorescence, ELISA, and flow cytometry were used in this study to detect the expression of NETs and DNase in the tissue and peripheral blood samples of patients with IBD. DSS mouse model was used to detect colon injury and vascular permeability. We found that NETs and DNase levels increased in the colon of patients with IBD. We found an increase in the activity of NET-related MPO released by DNase. DNase released NET-related proteins and damaged vascular endothelial cells in vitro. In DSS mouse model, the synchronous increase of DNase and NETs in the colon leads to an increase in vascular injury markers (CD44, sTM). DNase aggravated colon injury and increased vascular permeability in vivo, which was inhibited by gentamicin sulfate (GS). GS does not reduce the expression of DNase, but rather reduces the release of NET-related proteins to protect vascular endothelium by inhibiting DNase activity. MPO and histones synergistically damaged the vascular endothelium, and vascular injury can be improved by their active inhibitors. We further found that H2 O2 is an important substrate for MPO induced vascular damage. In conclusion, in IBD, DNase, and NET levels increased synchronously in the lesion area and released NET-related proteins to damage the vascular endothelium. Therefore, targeting DNase may be beneficial for the treatment of IBD.

A biomarker panel of secondary hypertension is simultaneously quantified by coupling of magnetic solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE: Secondary hypertension is often caused by activation of complex multi-organ endocrine systems, while renin activity indicated by angiotensins (Angs), aldosterone (ALD) and cortisol (COR) in such systems are generally accepted as its diagnostic markers. As antibody-based methods cannot offer comparable quantification for these biomarkers, a liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS)-based approach was developed to quantify them simultaneously and accurately. METHODS: Five different beads for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) were evaluated towards their enrichment efficiency for these biomarkers. An LC system with optimized elution gradient and a triple-quadrupole MS with tuned parameters were coupled to quantitatively monitor the extracted analytes. The method performance was further examined such as linearity, precision, stability, recovery rate and matrix effect. Based on the developed method, the abundance of Ang II, ALD and COR in plasma was measured and the quantification was compared with that derived from commercial ELISA kits. RESULTS: As compared with other MSPEs, Angs, ALD and COR were highly enriched by the HLB magnetic beads with satisfactory recoveries. These analytes were simultaneously quantified by LC/MS/MS and all the method parameters for quantification were well matched with the requirements of clinical testing. Comparison of the quantitative results derived from ELISA and LC/MS/MS exhibited that the two methods offered basically comparable values with Pearson r values at 0.896, 0.895 and 0.835, respectively. The stability test for plasma Angs at room temperature indicated that the abundance of Ang II was relatively stable within 3 h, whereas that of Ang I and Ang 1-7 was time-dependently changed. CONCLUSIONS: Coupling of HLB beads and LC/MS/MS thus enables simultaneous quantification of a set of biomarkers related to secondary hypertension.

Effects of miR-129-5p on inflammation and nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis in rats with intervertebral disc degeneration through JNK signaling pathway.

This study aimed to explore the effects of miR-129-5p on inflammation and nucleus pulposus (NP) cell apoptosis in rats with intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) through the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. A total of 20 rats were randomly divided into control group (n=10) or IVDD group (n=10). The mRNA expressions of miR-129-5p and apoptosis index Fas in IVDD tissues were determined using RT-PCR. NP cell apoptosis rate was detected via TUNEL assay. NP cells were extracted from IVDD tissues for primary culture. Subsequently, the cells were transfected with miR-129-5p inhibitor or mimic to inhibit or overexpress miR-129-5p, respectively. Furthermore, the changes in the JNK pathway indexes and apoptosis indexes were detected using Western blotting. In IVDD group, the expression of miR-129-5p was significantly down-regulated, while the transcriptional level of Fas was up-regulated compared with those in control group. Pearson correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between the expressions of miR-129-5p and Fas mRNA (r=-0.75, P<0.05). IVDD group exhibited significantly higher levels of serum TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1 than control group. Subsequent TUNEL assay indicated that the apoptosis rate was evidently higher in IVDD group (60.6%) than control group (2.5%). The results of Western blotting showed that the protein expressions of JNK1, JNK2 and Fas remarkably rose in IVDD group compared with those in control group. However, they declined remarkably in miR-129-5p mimic group compared with those in control group. Furthermore, such trends were significantly reversed in miR-129-5p inhibitor group. MiR-129-5p was significantly down-regulated in IVDD, whose overexpression has anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects.

Identification and characterization of a novel hydroxylamine oxidase, DnfA, that catalyzes the oxidation of hydroxylamine to N2.

Nitrogen (N2) gas in the atmosphere is partially replenished by microbial denitrification of ammonia. Recent study has shown that Alcaligenes ammonioxydans oxidizes ammonia to dinitrogen via a process featuring the intermediate hydroxylamine, termed "Dirammox" (direct ammonia oxidation). However, the unique biochemistry of this process remains unknown. Here, we report an enzyme involved in Dirammox that catalyzes the conversion of hydroxylamine to N2. We tested previously annotated proteins involved in redox reactions, DnfA, DnfB, and DnfC, to determine their ability to catalyze the oxidation of ammonia or hydroxylamine. Our results showed that none of these proteins bound to ammonia or catalyzed its oxidation; however, we did find DnfA bound to hydroxylamine. Further experiments demonstrated that, in the presence of NADH and FAD, DnfA catalyzed the conversion of 15N-labeled hydroxylamine to 15N2. This conversion did not happen under oxygen (O2)-free conditions. Thus, we concluded that DnfA encodes a hydroxylamine oxidase. We demonstrate that DnfA is not homologous to any known hydroxylamine oxidoreductases and contains a diiron center, which was shown to be involved in catalysis via electron paramagnetic resonance experiments. Furthermore, enzyme kinetics of DnfA were assayed, revealing a Km of 92.9 ± 3.0 µM for hydroxylamine and a kcat of 0.028 ± 0.001 s-1. Finally, we show that DnfA was localized in the cytoplasm and periplasm as well as in tubular membrane invaginations in HO-1 cells. To the best of our knowledge, we conclude that DnfA is the first enzyme discovered that catalyzes oxidation of hydroxylamine to N2.

Vascular Electrical Stimulation with Wireless, Battery-Free, and Fully Implantable Features Reduces Atherosclerotic Plaque Formation Through Sirt1-Mediated Autophagy.

Electrical stimulation (ES) is a safe and effective procedure in clinical rehabilitation with few adverse effects. However, studies on ES for atherosclerosis (AS) are scarce because ES does not provide a long-term intervention for chronic disease processes. Battery-free implants and surgically mounted them in the abdominal aorta of high-fat-fed Apolipoprotein E (ApoE-/- ) mice are used, which are electrically stimulated for four weeks using a wireless ES device to observe changes in atherosclerotic plaques. Results showed that there is almost no growth of atherosclerotic plaque at the stimulated site in AopE-/- mice after ES. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis of Thp-1 macrophages reveal that the transcriptional activity of autophagy-related genes increase substantially after ES. Additionally, ES reduces lipid accumulation in macrophages by restoring ABCA1- and ABCG1-mediated cholesterol efflux. Mechanistically, it is demonstrated that ES reduced lipid accumulation through Sirtuin 1 (Sirt1)/Autophagy related 5 (Atg5) pathway-mediated autophagy. Furthermore, ES reverse autophagic dysfunction in macrophages of AopE-/- mouse plaques by restoring Sirt1, blunting P62 accumulation, and inhibiting the secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, resulting in the alleviation of atherosclerotic lesion formation. Here, a novel approach is shown in which ES can be used as a promising therapeutic strategy for AS treatment through Sirt1/Atg5 pathway-mediated autophagy.

Kosakonia cowanii, a new bacterial pathogen affecting foxtail millet (Setaria italica[L.]P. Beauv.) in China.

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica [L.] P. Beauv.) is an important cereal worldwide. From 2021 to 2022, stalk rot disease of foxtail millet was identified in Shanxi province, northern China, with an 8% and 2% field incidence rate in Xinzhou (2 different locations), respectively. It caused necrosis, decay, stem lodging, and sometimes death. This study aimed to identify the causal agent of the disease through morphophysiological and molecular identification of the isolates. Stalk rot specimens were collected in Xinzhou, from foxtail millet plants exhibiting typical symptoms, and the pathogen was isolated with dilution plating. It was cultured at 28 °C for 48 h on nutrient agar, revealing circular, convex, and pale-yellow colonies, with a smooth surface and an entire edge. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the pathogen is rod shaped, round ended and has an uneven surface ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 µm in diameter and 1.2-2.7 µm in length. It is a motile gram-negative facultative anaerobic bacterium that can reduce nitrate and synthesize catalase but cannot hydrolyze starch. It also shows a negative reaction in the methyl red test and optimum growth at 37 °C. The pathogenicity test was performed on foxtail millet variety 'Jingu 21' stem to confirm Koch's postulates. The biochemical tests were done in the Biolog Gen III MicroPlate, revealing 21 positive chemical sensitivity tests, except those for minocycline and sodium bromate. Furthermore, among 71 carbon sources, the pathogen utilized 50 as the sole carbon source, including sucrose, d-maltose, α-d-lactose, d-galactose, D-sorbitol, D-mannitol, glycerol, and inositol. Finally, molecular characterization of the pathogen using 16S rRNA and rpoB gene sequencing and subsequent phylogenetic analysis identified the strain as Kosakonia cowanii. This study is the first to report K. cowanii as a stalk rot-causing pathogen in foxtail millet.

Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis of Stem Cell Research in Alzheimer's Disease from 2004 to 2022.

INTRODUCTION: Stem cell-based regenerative medicine has provided an excellent opportunity to investigate therapeutic strategies and innovative treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, there is an absence of visual overviews to assess the published literature systematically. METHODS: In this review, the bibliometric approach was used to estimate the searched data on stem cell research in AD from 2004 to 2022, and we also utilized CiteSpace and VOSviewer software to evaluate the contributions and co-occurrence relationships of different countries/regions, institutes, journals, and authors as well as to discover research hot spots and encouraging future trends in this field. RESULTS: From 2004 to 2022, a total of 3,428 publications were retrieved. The number of publications and citations on stem cell research in AD has increased dramatically in the last nearly 20 years, especially since 2016. North America and Asia were the top 2 highest output regions. The leading country in terms of publications and access to collaborative networks was the USA. Centrality analysis revealed that the UCL (0.05) was at the core of the network. The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (n = 102, 2.98%) was the most productive academic journal. The analyses of keyword burst detection indicated that exosomes, risk factors, and drug delivery only had burst recently. Citations and co-citation achievements clarified that cluster #0 induced pluripotent stem cells, #2 mesenchymal stem cells, #3 microglia, and #6 adult hippocampal neurogenesis persisted to recent time. CONCLUSION: This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive guide for clinicians and scholars working in this field. These analysis and results hope to provide useful information and references for future understanding of the challenges behind translating underlying stem cell biology into novel clinical therapeutic potential in AD.

Melatonin inhibits atherosclerosis progression via galectin-3 downregulation to enhance autophagy and inhibit inflammation.

Autophagy deficiency in macrophages exacerbates inflammation in atherosclerosis (AS), and recently, galectin-3 (Gal-3) has been implicated as a critical promoter of inflammation in AS. Further, melatonin (Mel) exerts an autophagy-promoting effect in many chronic inflammatory diseases. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether Mel inhibits AS progression by downregulating Gal-3 to enhance autophagy and inhibit inflammation. Thus, we performed in vivo and in vitro experiments using high-fat diet (HFD)-fed ApoE-/-  mice and THP-1 macrophages, respectively. Smart-seq of AS plaque macrophages revealed that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) downregulated by Mel were enriched in immune-related processes, and changes in inflammation status were confirmed based on lower levels of proinflammatory factors in Mel-treated HFD-fed ApoE-/-  mice and THP-1 macrophages. Further, via transcriptome-based multiscale network pharmacology platform (TMNP), the upstream target genes of the smart-seq DEGs were identified, and Gal-3 showed a high score. Gal-3 was downregulated both in vivo and in vitro by Mel treatment. Besides, the enrichment of the target genes predicted via the TMNP method indicated that autophagy considerably affected the DEGs. Mel treatment as well as Gal-3 knockdown downregulated most inflammatory response-related proteins could attribute to enhancing autophagy. Mechanistically, Mel treatment inhibited Gal-3 leading to lowering the activity of the nuclear transcription factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, and promoting the nuclear localization of transcription factor EB (TFEB). However, increased secretion of Gal-3 activated the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) pathway and impaired autophagy via binding to CD98. Thus, Mel promoted autophagy and restrained inflammation by downregulating Gal-3, implying that it holds promise as a treatment for AS.

Effect of damming on hydrogeochemical characteristics and potential environmental risks in a large reservoir: Insights from different vertical layer sampling.

The water environment of large reservoirs is fragility due to effects from hydrological regulation of damming and anthropogenic inputs. As a critical path to quantify the natural chemical weathering and assess environmental risks, solute chemistry of river has been widely focused on. However, the complexed hydrological conditions of large reservoir affect the chemical compositions, and the significance of solute vertical geochemistry as an indicator of chemical weathering and water quality health remains explore. Therefore, the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) was selected as a typical study area, which is the world's largest hydropower project and subject to frequent water quality problems. Then, the chemical compositions in stratified water were determined. Ca2+ (52.8 ± 4.3 mg/L) and HCO3- (180.9 ± 8.9 mg/L) were the most abundant ions among cations and anions, respectively. Incremental mean concentration of total major ions followed with the increase of riverine depth and flow direction. An improved inversion model was used to quantify the source contribution, which weathering of dolomite (34%) and calcite (38%) contributed the most to total cations, and the influences of agriculture and sewage discharge were limited. Additional contributions of evaporite and pyrite oxidation were found in analysis of deeper water samples, which also results in 2%-67% difference in estimated CO2 release flux using data from different depth, indicating additional information about sulfuric acid driven weathering was contained. Finally, the water quality of the reservoir was assessed for irrigation and non-carcinogenic risks. Results showed the stratified water of TGR can be used as a good water source of irrigation. However, NO3- (5.1 ± 1.1 mg/L) may have a potential non-carcinogenic risk to children, especially in surface water. To sum up, this study provided an indispensable supplement to the water chemistry archives in the TGR basin, serving as theoretical references for environmental management of large reservoirs.

Short-term effects and economic burden of air pollutants on acute lower respiratory tract infections in children in Southwest China: a time-series study.

BACKGROUND: There are few studies on the effects of air pollutants on acute lower respiratory tract infections (ALRI) in children. Here, we investigated the relationship of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), inhalable particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with the daily number of hospitalizations for ALRI in children in Sichuan Province, China, and to estimate the economic burden of disease due to exposure to air pollutants. METHODS: We collected records of 192,079 cases of childhood ALRI hospitalization between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 from nine municipal/prefecture medical institutions as well as the simultaneous meteorological and air pollution data from 183 monitoring sites in Sichuan Province. A time series-generalized additive model was used to analyze exposure responses and lagged effects while assessing the economic burden caused by air pollutant exposure after controlling for long-term trends, seasonality, day of the week, and meteorological factors. RESULTS: Our single-pollutant model shows that for each 10 µg/m3 increase in air pollutant concentration (1 µg/m3 for SO2), the effect estimates of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 for pneumonia reached their maximum at lag4, lag010, lag010, and lag07, respectively, with relative risk (RR) values of 1.0064 (95% CI, 1.0004-1.0124), 1.0168(95% CI 1.0089-1.0248), 1.0278 (95% CI 1.0157-1.0400), and 1.0378 (95% CI, 1.0072-1.0692). By contrast, the effect estimates of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 for bronchitis all reached their maximum at lag010, with RRs of 1.0133 (95% CI 1.0025-1.0242), 1.0161(95% CI 1.0085-1.0238), 1.0135 (95% CI 1.0025-1.0247), and 1.1133(95% CI 1.0739-1.1541). In addition, children aged 5-14 years were more vulnerable to air pollutants than those aged 0-4 years (p < 0.05). According to the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines, the number of ALRI hospitalizations attributed to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 pollution during the study period was 7551, 10,151, and 7575, respectively, while the incurring economic burden was CNY 2847.06, 3827.27, and 2855.91 million. CONCLUSION: This study shows that in Sichuan Province, elevated daily average concentrations of four air pollutants lead to increases in numbers of childhood ALRI hospitalizations and cause a serious economic burden.

An injectable, activated neutrophil-derived exosome mimetics/extracellular matrix hybrid hydrogel with antibacterial activity and wound healing promotion effect for diabetic wound therapy.

Chronic diabetic wounds are primarily caused by infection, inflammation, and angiogenesis-related disorders. An ideal approach for treating chronic diabetic wounds is by combining anti-infection strategies, immune microenvironment regulation, and angiogenesis promotion. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) can promote the proliferation and migration of vascular endothelial cells, thereby promoting angiogenesis. However, the low stability and inability to target lesions limit its application. Polymorphonuclear neutrophil-derived exosomes (PMNExo) exhibit good delivery properties and can be used for the therapeutic delivery of VEGF. Furthermore, they retain the antibacterial ability of polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs). Nonetheless, low PMNExo generation impedes its therapeutic applications. In this study, we prepared exosome mimetics (EM) from PMNs using the extrusion process; as a result, exosome yield significantly improved. To increase the residence of exosomes, an extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogel, a thermosensitive material that can function as an in situ gel in vivo, was used as an exosome carrier. The active peptides in the ECM regulated the immune microenvironment of the wound. In summary, we loaded ECM with VEGF-encapsulated activated neutrophil exosome mimetics (aPMNEM) to develop VEGF-aPMNEM-ECM hybrid hydrogel for treating chronic wounds. The hydrogel accelerates the regeneration of chronic diabetic wounds. Our study provides a prospective therapy platform involving cytokines for treating different diseases.

Association of pre-stroke frailty and health-related factors with post-stroke functional independence among community-dwelling Chinese older adults.

OBJECTIVES: Frailty is associated with a range of poor post-stroke outcomes. There is still a lack of comprehensive understanding of the temporal relationship between pre-stroke frailty status and other related factors with functional recovery after stroke. This study aims to evaluate pre-stroke frailty status and health-related factors associated with functional independence among community-dwelling Chinese older adults. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The dataset based on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted in 28 provinces across China was used. The pre-stroke frailty status was assessed using the Physical Frailty Phenotype (PFP) scale with the 2015 wave data. The PFP scale consisted of five criteria with a total score of 5, and categorized into non-frail (0 point), prefrail (1 and 2 points), and frail (3 or more points). Covariates included demographic factors (age, sex, marital status, residence, and education level) and health-related variables (comorbidities, self-reported health status and cognition). Activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) were assessed as the functional outcomes, with difficulties in at least one of the 6 ADL items and 5 IADL items defined as ADL/IADL limitation respectively. A logistic regression model was used to estimate the associations. RESULTS: A total of 666 participants who were newly diagnosed with stroke during the 2018 wave were included. 234 (35.1%) participants were classified as non-frail, 380 (57.1%) participants were classified as prefrail, and 52 (7.8%) participants were classified as frail. Pre-stroke frailty was significantly associated with ADL and IADL limitations post stroke. Additional significant variables with ADL limitation were age, female and more comorbidities. Additional significant variables with IADL limitation were age, female, married or cohabitating, more comorbidities and pre-stroke lower global cognitive score. CONCLUSION: Frailty status was associated with ADL and IADL limitations after stroke. A more comprehensive assessment of frailty in older people may help to identify those with most significant risk for declining functional capacities after stroke and to develop appropriate intervention strategies.

Short-term ambient ozone exposure increases the risk of hospitalization with depression: a multi-city time-stratified case-crossover study.

BACKGROUND: Depression, the most common mental illness worldwide, has been studied and air pollution has been found to increase the risk of depression hospitalization, but research results on ozone (O3) remain limited. In this context, we investigated the relationship between short-term O3 exposure and depression-related hospital admissions (HAs). METHODS: The 10,459 records of HAs for depression from medical institutions across in 9 cities, China, were collected between 1 January 2017, and 31 December 2018. Air pollutants and meteorological data was obtained from provincial ecological environment monitoring stations in the study area. Conditional Poisson regression was employed to estimate the association between O3 and hospitalizations for depression, with data stratification by sex, age, weather, and economic level. RESULTS: Short-term O3 exposure was positively associated with the number of depression-related hospitalizations (Relative risk: 1.04 [95% CI: 1.02, 1.05]). O3 had a significant effect on the risk of depression-related hospitalizations on warm days (P = 0.021, Relative risk: 1.05 [1.03, 1.08]). The high gross domestic product group was more likely to be affected by O3 exposure-associated depression-related hospitalizations (P = 0.005, Relative risk: 1.03 [1.01, 1.05]). CONCLUSIONS: Short-term changes to O3 exposure may increase the risk of depression related hospitalizations, especially on warm days.

Multi-omics profiling reveals comprehensive microbe-plant-metabolite regulation patterns for medicinal plant Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.

Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch is a medicinal plant widely used to treat multiple diseases in Europe and Asia, and its efficacy largely depends on liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid. The regulatory pattern responsible for the difference in efficacy between wild and cultivated G. uralensis remains largely undetermined. Here, we collected roots and rhizosphere soils from wild (WT) G. uralensis as well as those farmed for 1 year (C1) and 3 years (C3), generated metabolite and transcript data for roots, microbiota data for rhizospheres and conducted comprehensive multi-omics analyses. We updated gene structures for all 40 091 genes in G. uralensis, and based on 52 differentially expressed genes, we charted the route-map of both liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid biosynthesis, with genes BAS, CYP72A154 and CYP88D6 critical for glycyrrhizic acid biosynthesis being significantly expressed higher in wild G. uralensis than in cultivated G. uralensis. Additionally, multi-omics network analysis identified that Lysobacter was strongly associated with CYP72A154, which was required for glycyrrhizic acid biosynthesis. Finally, we developed a holistic multi-omics regulation model that confirmed the importance of rhizosphere microbial community structure in liquiritin accumulation. This study thoroughly decoded the key regulatory mechanisms of liquiritin and glycyrrhizic acid, and provided new insights into the interactions of the plant's key metabolites with its transcriptome, rhizosphere microbes and environment, which would guide future cultivation of G. uralensis.

Efficient generation of a dual-polarized vortex wave with an ultrathin Huygens' metasurface.

In this paper, an ultrathin Huygens' metasurface is designed for generating an orbital angular momentum (OAM) beam. The Huygens' metasurface is a double-layered metallic structure on a single-layer PCB. Based on induced magnetism, the Huygens' metasurface achieves the abilities of available near-complete transmission phase shift around 28 GHz. According to the principle of vortex wave generation, a Huygens' metasurface is designed, implemented and measured. The simulated and measured results show that the dual-polarized OAM transmitted waves with the mode l = 1 can be efficiently generated on a double-layered Huygens' metasurface around 28 GHz. The measured peak gain is 23.4 dBi at 28 GHz, and the divergence angle is 3.5°. Compared with conventional configurations of OAM transmitted beam generation, this configuration has the advantages of high gain, narrow divergence angle, and low assembly cost. This investigation will provide a new perspective for engineering application of OAM beams.

Ultra-wideband linear-to-circular polarizer realized by bi-layer metasurfaces.

We propose a bi-layer transmissive metasurface to obtain linear-to-circular polarization conversion in a wideband. The unit cell of each metasurface layer, which has identical configuration, consists of a Jerusalem-cross-like resonator and a metal strip. A universal equivalent circuit model is employed to guide the design of the polarizer. By analyzing the circuit parameters of the equivalent circuit, four metal strips are symmetrically inserted in each unit cell to broaden the bandwidth of linear-to-circular polarization conversion. Numerical and experimental results show that the polarizer can convert a linearly polarized wave into a circularly polarized wave in a wideband from 6.1 GHz to 12.6 GHz. Compared to the reported designs, the proposed polarization converter has advantages of ultrathin thickness and ultrawideband, and hence can be used in many applications, such as antennas and remote sensors.

Active beam manipulation and convolution operation in VO2-integrated coding terahertz metasurfaces.

Coding metasurfaces have received tremendous interest due to their unprecedented control of beams through the flexible design of coding sequences. However, realizing tunable coding metasurfaces with scattering-pattern shifts in the terahertz range is still challenging. Here, we propose a VO2-integrated coding metasurface to realize a thermally controlled scattering-pattern shift by convolution operation. The required phase profiles and high amplitudes of 1-bit and 2-bit coding metasurfaces are easily obtained only by changing the length of the VO2 cut-wires. The insulator-metal phase transition of the VO2 cut-wires leads to an ultrafast switching effect between multiple deflected scattering beams and one normally reflected beam. In particular, the VO2 phase transition contributes to dynamical convolution operations of the 2-bit coding metasurface. The proposed VO2-integrated coding metasurfaces are important for realizing tunable terahertz beam manipulation as well as arbitrary required scattering beams.

An extracellular Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase from Neocaridina denticulata sinensis: cDNA cloning, mRNA expression and characterizations of recombinant protein.

Neocaridina denticulata sinensis possesses characters of rapid growth, tenacious vitality, short growth cycle, transparent, and easy feeding. Therefore, it is gradually being developed into an animal model for basic research on decapod crustaceans. Herein, a Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD), named as Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD, was identified and characterized from N. denticulata sinensis. The full-length cDNA sequence of Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD is 829 bp containing a 684 bp open reading frame, which encodes a protein of 227 amino acid residues with a typical Sod_Cu domain. The quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD mRNA was expressed in all the tested tissues. Under challenge with copper, the mRNA expression of Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD reached the maximum at 6 h, and decreased until 24 h. After 24 h of exposure, its expression was up-regulated significantly at 36 h. After then its expression sharply decreased with a comeback at 48 h. The result indicated that Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD might play an important role in the stress response of N. denticulata sinensis. The expression of Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD in gills challenged with Vibrio parahaemolyticus changed in a time-dependent manner. Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD was lowly expressed in early developmental stages by RNA-Seq technology, yet it showed that a cyclical rise and fall occurred between middle stages and late stages. In addition, Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD was recombinantly expressed using E. coli and the recombinant protein was purified as a single band on SDS-PAGE. The recombinant Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD (rNd-ecCu/Zn-SOD) existed enzymatic activity under a wide range of temperature and pH. The exposure of metal ions was found that Zn2+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Ba2+, and Cu2+ could inhibit the enzymatic activity of rNd-ecCu/Zn-SOD, and Mn2+ increased the enzymatic activity of rNd-ecCu/Zn-SOD. These results indicate that Nd-ecCu/Zn-SOD may play a pivotal role in resistant against oxidative damage and act as a biomarker under stressful environment.

TRIP13 knockdown inhibits the proliferation, migration, invasion, and promotes apoptosis by suppressing PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in U2OS cells.

BACKGROUND: Although osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common malignant bone tumor, the biological mechanism underlying its incidence and improvement remains unclear. This study investigated early diagnosis and treatment objectives using bioinformatics strategies and performed experimental verification. METHODS AND RESULTS: The top 10 OS hub genes-CCNA2, CCNB1, AURKA, TRIP13, RFC4, DLGAP5, NDC80, CDC20, CDK1, and KIF20A-were screened using bioinformatics methods. TRIP13 was chosen for validation after reviewing literature. TRIP13 was shown to be substantially expressed in OS tissues and cells, according to Western blotting (WB) and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data. Subsequently, TRIP13 knockdown enhanced apoptosis and decreased proliferation, migration, and invasion in U2OS cells, as validated by the cell counting kit-8 test, Hoechst 33,258 staining, wound healing assay, and WB. In addition, the levels of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT in U2OS cells markedly decreased after TRIP13 knockdown. Culturing U2OS cells, in which TRIP13 expression was downregulated, in a medium supplemented with a PI3K/AKT inhibitor further reduced their proliferation, migration, and invasion and increased their apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS: TRIP13 knockdown reduced U2OS cell proliferation, migration, and invasion via a possible mechanism involving the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Deep learning phase-unwrapping method based on adaptive noise evaluation.

To address the problem of phase unwrapping for interferograms, a deep learning (DL) phase-unwrapping method based on adaptive noise evaluation is proposed to retrieve the unwrapped phase from the wrapped phase. First, this method uses a UNet3+ as the skeleton and combines with a residual neural network to build a network model suitable for unwrapping wrapped fringe patterns. Second, an adaptive noise level evaluation system for interferograms is designed to estimate the noise level of the interferograms by integrating phase quality maps and phase residues of the interferograms. Then, multiple training datasets with different noise levels are used to train the DL network to achieve the trained networks suitable for unwrapping interferograms with different noise levels. Finally, the interferograms are unwrapped by the trained networks with the same noise levels as the interferograms to be unwrapped. The results with simulated and experimental interferograms demonstrate that the proposed networks can obtain the popular unwrapped phase from the wrapped phase with different noise levels and show good robustness in the experiments of phase unwrapping for different types of fringe patterns.