Cancer SLC6A6-mediated taurine uptake transactivates immune checkpoint genes and induces exhaustion in CD8+ T cells.

Taurine is used to bolster immunity, but its effects on antitumor immunity are unclear. Here, we report that cancer-related taurine consumption causes T cell exhaustion and tumor progression. The taurine transporter SLC6A6 is correlated with aggressiveness and poor outcomes in multiple cancers. SLC6A6-mediated taurine uptake promotes the malignant behaviors of tumor cells but also increases the survival and effector function of CD8+ T cells. Tumor cells outcompete CD8+ T cells for taurine by overexpressing SLC6A6, which induces T cell death and malfunction, thereby fueling tumor progression. Mechanistically, taurine deficiency in CD8+ T cells increases ER stress, promoting ATF4 transcription in a PERK-JAK1-STAT3 signaling-dependent manner. Increased ATF4 transactivates multiple immune checkpoint genes and induces T cell exhaustion. In gastric cancer, we identify a chemotherapy-induced SP1-SLC6A6 regulatory axis. Our findings suggest that tumoral-SLC6A6-mediated taurine deficiency promotes immune evasion and that taurine supplementation reinvigorates exhausted CD8+ T cells and increases the efficacy of cancer therapies.

Revealing the dual impact of VOCs on recycled rubber workers: Health risk and odor perception.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pose potential hazards to human health and contribute significantly to odor pollution. This study examined VOC emissions from a representative recycled rubber industry, evaluating the occupational health risks for frontline workers in various workshops. Variables such as gender and workshop-specific concentration variations were considered using Monte Carlo simulation methods. Employees in the five production workshops and office areas face noncarcinogenic health risks with hazard indices (HIs) greater than 1, with the rubber compounding phase presenting the highest risk. Acetaldehyde is identified as the primary noncarcinogenic health risk substance, with hazard quotient (HQ) values exceeding 1 in all workshops. Carcinogenic health risks vary by area, with the highest risks found in compounding and refining workshops. Formaldehyde poses the greatest risk in rubber grinding workshops and offices, with cumulative weights exceeding unacceptable levels of M80.58 % and W77.56 % in grinding and M94.98 % and W92.24 % in the office. Male workers face 4-7 % greater noncarcinogenic VOC health risks than females and 5-14 % greater carcinogenic risks from individual VOCs, increasing their susceptibility to health risks caused by VOCs. Additionally, our analysis of odor identification and intensity classification revealed that 53 VOCs are capable of causing odor pollution, with several substances reaching odor levels of 2 or higher. The predominant perceived odors, as reflected in the odor wheel, include categories such as "solvent/aromatic" and "sweet/fruit," with aldehydes being the primary odor-causing substances. In summary, emissions of VOCs from rubber industrial processes not only pose substantial health risks to workers but also contribute significantly to odor pollution. Consequently, enterprises must prioritize optimizing workplace conditions to ensure the occupational health and well-being of their employees.

Sentiment analysis of online reviews of energy-saving products based on transfer learning and LBBA model.

With the exacerbation of global climate change and the growing environmental awareness among the general public, the concept of green consumption has gained significant attention across various sectors of society. As a representative example of green consumer products, energy-saving products play a crucial role in the timely realization of dual carbon goals. However, an analysis of online comments regarding energy-saving products reveals that the majority of these products still exhibit shortcomings in terms of efficacy, noise level, cost-effectiveness, and particularly, energy-saving appliances. This study focuses on the user-generated online comments data from the Taobao e-commerce platform for Grade 1 energy-saving refrigerators. By employing text mining techniques, the study aims to extract the essential information and sentiments expressed in the comments, in order to explore the consumption characteristics of Grade 1 energy-saving refrigerators. Moreover, the LBBA (LDA-Bert-BiLSTM-Attention) model is utilized to investigate the consumer topics of interest and emotional features. Initially, the LDA model is adopted to identify the attributes and weights of consumer concerns. Subsequently, the Bert model is pre-trained with the online comment data, and combined with the BiLSTM algorithm and Attention mechanism to predict sentiment categories. Finally, a transfer learning approach is utilized to determine the sentiment inclination of user-generated online comments and to identify the primary driving factors behind each sentiment category. This research employs sentiment analysis on online comments data regarding energy-saving products to uncover consumer sentiment attributes and emotional characteristics. It provides decision-makers with a comprehensive and systematic understanding of public consumption intentions, offering decision support for the efficient operation and management of the energy-saving product market.

Topic-sentiment analysis of citizen environmental complaints in China: Using a Stacking-BERT model.

Environmental complaints serve as a crucial means for citizens to participate in environmental regulation, providing precise insights for real-time identification of pollution issues and understanding public environmental concerns. This study analyzes 102,782 environmental complaint texts from China's e-government platform between 2016 and 2022, firstly employing an ensemble machine learning model (Stacking-BERT) to examine the hot topics and sentiment characteristics of these environmental complaints. The results indicate that: (1) The number of environmental complaints exhibits an "M-shaped" fluctuation, with the proportion of complaints related to noise, waste, and radiation continuously rising. The sentiment orientation of these complaints has shifted from predominantly negative (2016-2020) to more neutral (2021-2022), indicating a positive trend. (2) Complaints regarding air, water, land, noise, and waste demonstrate significant seasonal cyclical fluctuations, characterized by a homogenized pattern. (3) Approximately 70.41% of environmental complaints express negative emotions. Noise complaints are the dominant topic of negative emotions, while air and radiation complaints are the core themes of extreme negative emotions. (4) There is a high overlap between major complaint regions and hotspots of negative emotions. The dual hotspot areas (Guangdong, Hebei, Shandong, Henan) are identified as critical regions requiring urgent attention to resolve environmental complaints.

Assessment of the migration characteristics and source-oriented health risks of heavy metals in the soil and groundwater of a legacy contaminated by the chlor-alkali industry in central China.

The chlor-alkali industry (CAI) is crucial for global chemical production; however, its operation has led to widespread heavy metal (HM) contamination at numerous sites, which has not been thoroughly investigated. This study analysed 122 soil and groundwater samples from a typical CAI site in Kaifeng, China. Our aim was to assess the ecological and health risks, identify the sources, and examine the migration characteristics of HMs at this site using Monte Carlo simulation, absolute principal component score-multiple linear regression (APCS-MLR), and the potential environmental risk index (Ei). Our findings revealed that the exceedance rates for Cd, Pb, Hg, and Ni were 71.96%, 45.79%, 49.59%, and 65.42%, respectively. Mercury (Hg) displayed the greatest coefficient of variation across all the soil layers, indicating a significant anthropogenic influence. Cd and Hg were identified as having high and extremely high potential environmental risk levels, respectively. The spatial distributions of the improved Nemerow index (INI), total ecological risk (Ri), and HM content varied considerably, with the most contaminated areas typically associated with the storage of raw and auxiliary materials. Surface aggregation and significant vertical transport were noted for HMs; As and Ni showed substantial accumulation in subsoil layers, severely contaminating the groundwater. Self-organizing maps categorized the samples into two different groups, showing strong positive correlations between Cd, Pb, and Hg. The APCS-MLR model suggested that industrial emissions were the main contributors, accounting for 60.3% of the total HM input. Elevated hazard quotient values for Hg posed significant noncarcinogenic risks, whereas acceptable levels of carcinogenic risk were observed for both adults (96.60%) and children (97.83%). This study significantly enhances historical CAI pollution data and offers valuable insights into ongoing environmental and health challenges.

Lactate: a pearl dropped in the ocean-an overlooked signal molecule in physiology and pathology.

Lactate, once recognized as a wasty product from anaerobic glycolysis, is proved to be a pivotal signal molecule. Lactate accumulation occurs in diverse physiological and pathological settings due to the imbalance between lactate production and clearance. Under the condition with drastic changes in local microenvironment, such as tumorigenesis, inflammation, and microbial infection, the glycolysis turns to be active in surrounding cells leading to increased lactate release. Meanwhile, lactate can be utilized by these cells as an energy substrate and acts as a signal molecule to regulate cell functions through receptor-dependent or independent pathways. In this review, we tended to tease out the contribution of lactate in tumor progression and immunomodulation. And we also discussed the accessory role of lactate, beyond as the energy source only, in the growth of invading pathogens.

Reflection and refraction of higher-order Hermite-Gaussian beams: a vector wave analysis.

Hermite-Gaussian beams, as a typical kind of higher-order mode laser beams, have attracted intensive attention because of their interesting properties and potential applications. In this paper, a full vector wave analysis of the higher-order Hermite-Gaussian beams upon reflection and refraction is reported. The explicit analytical expressions for the electric and magnetic field components of the reflected and refracted Hermite-Gaussian beams are derived with the aid of angular spectrum representation and vector potential in the Lorenz gauge. Based on the derived analytical expressions, local field distributions of higher-order Hermite-Gaussian beams reflection and refraction at a plane interface between air and BK7 glass are displayed and analyzed.

Determinants of the embodied CO2 transfers through electricity trade within China.

There is unequal spatial distribution of resource endowment, population density, industrial structure, and economic development with diverse differences in labor, energy, and capital productivities in China. However, previous studies paid little attention to the determinants of CO2 transfers embodied in electricity trade. In this study, we use both the absolute and comparative advantage theories to reveal the determinants of embodied CO2 transfers through electricity trade within China. Results show that China's electricity sector has higher labor productivity but lower asset efficiency and energy productivity than that of mining and manufacturing sectors. The large-scale electricity trade alleviates the shortage of electricity supply in developed regions by outsourcing to the less-developed regions, reduces the unequal spatial distribution of coal and natural gas reserves, and changes CO2 flow embodied in power grid. Econometric analysis shows that coal reserve contributes to the increase of embodied CO2 emission, while natural gas reduces the embodied CO2 emission. The regional differences in the opportunity cost of labor productivity of non-electricity sector are the dominant factor of the embodied CO2 transfers through electricity trade within China, while asset efficiency and energy productivity are not significant in the regressions. Our findings could provide details about China's power grid expansion when confronting climate mitigation in the future.

Chirality of optical vortex beams reflected from an air-chiral medium interface.

Chirality plays an important role in understanding of the chiral light-matter interaction. In this work, we study theoretically and numerically the chirality of optical vortex beams reflected from an air-chiral medium interface. A theoretical model that takes into full account the vectorial nature of electromagnetic fields is developed to describe the reflection of optical vortex beams at an interface between air and a chiral medium. Some numerical simulations are performed and discussed. The results show that the chirality of the reflected vortex beams can be well controlled by the relative chiral parameter of the medium and is significantly affected by the incidence angle, topological charge, and polarization state of the incident beam. Our results provide new, to the best of our knowledge, insights into the interactions between optical vortex beams with chiral matter, and may have potential application in optical chirality manipulation.

Concise and explicit expressions for typical spatial-structured light beams beyond the paraxial approximation.

Structured light beams with distinct spatial inhomogeneity of amplitude, phase, and polarization have garnered tremendous attention in recent years. A better understanding of the vectorial structure of such beams is helpful to reveal their important and interesting features for further applications. In this paper, explicit analytical expressions for the electric field components of typical spatial-structured light beams, including fundamental Gaussian beams, Hermite-Gaussian beams, Laguerre-Gaussian beams, Bessel/Bessel-Gaussian beams, and Airy beams, beyond the paraxial approximation are derived on the basis of the vectorial Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction integrals. Compared with the existing expressions in the literature, the expressions given in this paper are very concise. Using the derived analytical expressions, distributions of the electric field components of these typical structured light beams are displayed and analyzed.

Scattering analysis of two-dimensional Airy beams by typical non-spherical particles.

The scattering of structured light beams by various particles is an important subject of research with myriad practical applications, such as the manipulation, measurement, and diagnosis of small particles. We carry out an analysis of the scattering of two-dimensional (2D) Airy beams by typical non-spherical particles. The electric and magnetic field vectors of the incident Airy beams are derived by introducing a vector potential in the Lorenz gauge. The scattered fields of the particles are obtained by utilizing the method of moments based on surface integral equations. Some numerical simulations for the scattering of 2D Airy beams by several selected non-spherical particles are performed and analyzed. Especially, a spheroidal particle is taken as an example, and the effects of various parameters describing the 2D Airy beams on its differential scattering cross section are examined. It is expected that this work will be helpful for understanding the interactions of 2D Airy beams with non-spherical particles and their further applications.

DSYOLO-trash: An attention mechanism-integrated and object tracking algorithm for solid waste detection.

In a global context, the production of urban solid waste significantly varies with changes in living standards. This trend exhibits diversity across different countries and regions, reflecting shifts in lifestyles as well as varying needs and challenges in waste management strategies. However, current standards of waste recycling are too complex for the general public to follow. In this study, we propose a model called DSYOLO-Trash to identify solid waste by integrating the dual attention mechanisms convolutional block attention module (CBAM) and Contextual Transformer Networks(CotNet), which significantly enhance its ability to mine channel-related and spatial attention features while optimizing the learning process. We apply the deep simple online and realtime tracking (DeepSORT) object tracking algorithm to solid waste detection for the first time in the literature to enable the real-time identification and tracking of waste. We also develop a multi-label dataset of mixed solid waste, called MMTrash, to realistically simulate actual scenarios of waste classification. Our proposed DSYOLO-Trash delivered superior performance to classical detection algorithms on both the MMTrash and the TrashNet datasets. Our system combines the improved you only look once(YOLO) algorithm with DeepSORT technology by using industrial cameras and PLC-controlled robotic arms to intelligently sort waste. The work here constitutes an important contribution to intelligent waste management and the sustainable development of cities.

Quantitative Effects of Anthropogenic and Natural Factors on Heavy Metals Pollution and Spatial Distribution in Surface Drinking Water Sources in the Upper Huaihe River Basin in China.

The water quality of sources in the Huaihe River Basin significantly affects the lives and health of approximately 16.7% of China's population. Identifying and quantifying pollution sources and risks is essential for effective water resource management. This study utilized Monte Carlo simulations and Geodetector to assess water quality and eutrophication, as well as to evaluate the sources of heavy metals and the associated health risks for both adults and children. The results showed that eutrophication of water sources in Huaihe River was severe, with an overall EI value of 37.92; 67.8% of the water sources were classified as mesotrophic and 32.2% classified as eutrophic. Water quality and eutrophication levels in the southern mountainous regions were better than those in the densely populated northern areas. Adults were found to have a higher carcinogenic risk than children, whereas children faced a higher noncarcinogenic risk than adults. Cr presented the highest carcinogenic risk, affecting more than 99.8% of both adults and children at levels above 1 × 10-6 but not exceeding 1 × 10-4. The noncarcinogenic risk from metals did not surpass a level of 1, except for Pb. As was primarily influenced by agricultural activities and transportation, whereas Cd, Cr, and Pb were mainly affected by industrial activities, particularly in local textile industries such as knitting and clothing manufacturing. The analysis demonstrated that the influence of anthropogenic factors on heavy metal distribution was significantly enhanced by indirect natural factors. For example, the explanatory power of Precipitation and Road Network Density on As was 0.362 and 0.189, respectively, whereas their interaction had an explanatory power as high as 0.673. This study indicates that the geodetector method is effective in elucidating the factors influencing heavy metal distribution in water, thereby providing valuable insights into pollution sources in global drinking water.

Important roles of heme-regulated eIF-2α kinase in cadmium-induced glycolysis under acute exposure.

Cadmium (Cd) is a well-known heavy metal pollutant that is a toxic threat to human health. Cadmium can induce anemia and is involved in metabolic disorders. Heme-regulated eIF2α kinase (HRI) is the main regulator of terminal erythropoiesis and is required to prevent anemia and toxicity in the liver and kidneys in response to various stresses including Cd exposure. However, the involvement of HRI in Cd-induced metabolic disorders remains unclear. In this study, we performed proteomics on plasma collected from wild-type and Hri knockout mice treated with or without 5 and 10 mg/kg Cd. In total, 382 proteins were identified and indicated that the number of proteins in wild-type (Wt) mice was 2.4-fold higher than that in Hri knockout mice after Cd exposure, indicating the requirement of HRI for Cd exposure responses. Proteins associated with glycolysis were the most upregulated after Cd exposure in Wt mice, while, the induction of glycolysis after Cd exposure was interrupted in Hri knockout mice, suggesting the involvement of HRI in Cd-induced glycolysis upon acute exposure. Our results will help identify potential targets involved in metabolic disorders following acute exposure to high doses of cadmium.

Blocked erythroid differentiation and delayed enucleation of erythroblasts may contribute to murine embryonic toxicity upon exposure to low dose of cadmium.

Epidemiological and experimental studies have demonstrated the association of spontaneous abortion or embryonic atrophy with heavy metals, including some well-known anemia inducers, such as cadmium (Cd). However, the direct adverse effect of Cd on embryos without inducing maternal anemia remains unclear. In this study, we treated mice with a low dose of Cd before and after mating to minimize Cd-induced maternal anemia. Although most embryos developed normally, embryonic atrophy was still observed in a small percentage of embryos from Cd-exposed pregnant mice. Compared to the embryos from the control pregnant mice, a complete blockage of erythroid differentiation was observed in the atrophic embryos but no obvious alteration of erythroid differentiation in the non-atrophic embryos, respectively. Moreover, our results suggested delayed enucleation of erythroblasts in these non-atrophic embryos. Mechanically, the inhibited iron transport from the placenta to the fetus together with the increased iron export in the fetal livers might contribute to embryonic atrophy and delayed enucleation of erythroblasts upon Cd exposure. Our data may provide new insights into the embryonic toxicity of low-dose Cd.