Oral matrine alleviates CCl4-induced liver fibrosis via preserved HSP72 from modulated gut microbiota.

Hepatic fibrosis is intricately associated with dysregulation of gut microbiota and host metabolomes. Our previous studies have demonstrated that matrine can effectively reduce hepatosteatosis and associated disorders. However, it is poorly understood whether the gut microbiota involved in the attenuation of liver fibrosis by matrine. Herein we explored a novel mechanism of how oral administration of matrine alleviates liver fibrosis by modulating gut microbiota. Administration of matrine not only potently ameliorated liver fibrosis in carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced mice, but also significantly preserved hepatic heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) in vivo and in vitro. Matrine was failed to reduce liver fibrosis when HSP72 upregulation was blocked by the HSP72 antagonist VER-155008. Also, consumption of matrine significantly alleviated gut dysbiosis and fecal metabonomic changes in CCl4-treated mice. Transplanted the faces of matrine-treated mice induced a remarkable upregulation of HSP72 and remission of fibrosis in liver in CCl4-exposed mice and inhibition of TGF-ß1-induced inflammatory response and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in AML-12 cells. Furthermore, deficiency of HSP72 partly reversed the intestinal microbial composition that prevented matrine from reducing CCl4-induced liver fibrosis in mice. This study reveals the "gut microbiota-hepatic HSP72" axis as a key mechanism of matrine in reducing liver fibrosis and suggest that this axis may be targeted for developing other new therapies for liver fibrosis.

ACOD1 mediates Staphylococcus aureus-induced inflammatory response via the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a common Gram-positive bacterium that activates inflammatory cells, expressing various cytokines and inducing an inflammatory response. Recent research revealed aconitate decarboxylase 1 (ACOD1) as a regulator of the immune response through various metabolic pathways, playing a dual role in the inflammatory response. However, the mechanism by which ACOD1 participates in the regulation of SA-induced inflammatory responses in macrophages remains unknown. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the function and underlying regulatory mechanisms of ACOD1 in SA-induced inflammatory response. This study reveals that SA induced a macrophage inflammatory response and upregulated ACOD1 expression. ACOD1 knockdown significantly inhibited SA-induced macrophage inflammatory response, attenuated SA-induced nuclear envelope wrinkling, and plasma membrane rupture, and suppressed the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Furthermore, ACOD1 knockdown reduced the inflammatory response and alleviated lung tissue injury and cellular damage, leading to decreased bacterial loads in the lungs of SA-infected mice. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that SA induces an inflammatory response in macrophages and increases ACOD1 expression. ACOD1 enhances SA-induced inflammatory responses via the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway. Our findings highlight the significant role of ACOD1 in mediating the inflammatory response in SA-infected macrophages and elucidate its molecular mechanism in regulating the SA-induced inflammatory response.

Sonochemical deposition of gold nano-shells on suspended polymeric spheres.

Metal nanoparticles have drawn great interest due to their unique properties for applications in the fields of catalysis, biomedicine and environmental science depending on the architecture of the metal nanoparticle composites. Amongst different designing routes, the chemical template deposition offers great flexibility in terms of the template selection and interfacial interactions, giving rise to controllable designs. In order to control over nanoparticle size distribution and deposition efficiency, a sonochemical approach has been systematically followed in this study. Key parameters of the ultrasound-assisted deposition procedures during the seeding step to synthesise gold nanoparticle-coated poly(styrene) beads were investigated. The impact of the solution pH and the ultrasonic frequency on the template deposition was examined at 139, 300, 500 and 1000 kHz. The results, monitored by transmission electron spectroscopic imaging, show that the highest gold deposition was achieved at 300 kHz, revealing the mechanistic details of the nucleation-crystal growth behaviour as a function of ultrasonic frequency and reaction time. In addition, the concentration ratio between gold ions and poly(styrene) beads was varied. The highest deposition coverage and smallest particle size were reached at 0.05 mM and 2.5 mg, respectively. The proposed mechanism of the MNPs formation and deposition behaviour were then discussed based on the tested parameters.

Infiltration of nanocarbon into the trachea during thyroidectomy surgery: case series and literature review.

Introduction: The presence of metastatic disease in the cervical lymph nodes can affect the recurrence and survival of patients with thyroid cancer. Parathyroid gland injury during surgery can result in hypoparathyroidism, particularly with total thyroidectomy. Injection of carbon nanoparticles into the thyroid will label draining lymph nodes and aid in the visualization of metastatic cervical lymph nodes during a radical operation, sparing accidental damage to the parathyroid glands. Although reported to be useful during surgery, the safety of nanocarbon particles has rarely been investigated, and adverse side effects need to be studied. Case presentation: The author describes five patients with thyroid cancer who had carbon secretions in the trachea or mucosa after carbon nanoparticles were injected into the thyroid. A patient with carbon secretions in the trachea mucosa recovered but had progressive dyspnoea. Surgical treatment was performed, and a mass was found in the trachea mucosa. After excluding all other possibilities, the author concluded that the mass was caused by nanocarbon suspension. Discussion: To the author's knowledge, there are no reports on nanocarbon suspension into the mucosa and no consensus has yet been reached on the precise injection site, depth, or dose for injecting carbon nanoparticles before thyroidectomy. Conclusion: The author suggests that the most appropriate injection depth of nanocarbon suspensions should be no more than 3 mm of the thyroid gland thickness to avoid deep injection into the trachea.

Exploring the group heterogeneity in the impact of social cohesion on the walking frequency of older adults in China.

Background: Walkable neighborhoods are closely related to an increase in walking frequency and the strengthening of social cohesion. These factors, in turn, contribute to lower BMI and other positive health-related outcomes. However, with a rapid increase in aging populations in China and the fact that women are facing more challenges than men as they age, especially mobility challenges because they tend to live longer leading to probabilities to become widowed. Nevertheless, less attention has been paid to understanding the gender difference between these relationships. Methods: Based on a survey of 533 older adults in Dalian, China, this study tried to investigate the intertwined relationship between perceived walkability, social cohesion, walking frequency, and BMI. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) and multiple-group analysis were applied to test the proposed framework. Results: First, results show that gender differences existed among the above interrelationships, and the most substantial gender gap was found in effects of social cohesion on BMI. Second, perceived walkability only has a direct effect (0.149) on walking frequencies for female seniors. Third, although the relationships between perceived walkability and BMI are not directly related in both male and female models, the indirect connection (-0.053) is substituted for female seniors. Besides, the inhibiting effect of walking on BMI, which is -0.511, is also valid for female seniors. Finally, in terms of the role of social cohesion, both the positive impacts of perceived walkability on it (0.225 for males and 0.325 for females) and its promoting effects on walking have been confirmed in male (0.142) and female models (0.103). The negative direct effect of social cohesion on BMI (-0.083) is only confirmed in male seniors. Conclusion: Insights derived from this analysis can help bring forward gender-specific interventions to build a more inclusive walkable and social environment to improve the mobility and physical health of older adults.

Discovery of novel ULK1 inhibitors through machine learning-guided virtual screening and biological evaluation.

Aim: Build a virtual screening model for ULK1 inhibitors based on artificial intelligence. Materials & methods: Build machine learning and deep learning classification models and combine molecular docking and biological evaluation to screen ULK1 inhibitors from 13 million compounds. And molecular dynamics was used to explore the binding mechanism of active compounds. Results & conclusion: Possibly due to less available training data, machine learning models significantly outperform deep learning models. Among them, the Naive Bayes model has the best performance. Through virtual screening, we obtained three inhibitors with IC50 of µM level and they all bind well to ULK1. This study provides an efficient virtual screening model and three promising compounds for the study of ULK1 inhibitors.

[Box: see text].

Epidemiological study on seroprevalence of syphilis in patients with mental diseases.

INTRODUCTION: The objective of this study was to investigate the seroprevalence of syphilis and its possible influencing factors in patients with mental illness. METHODOLOGY: A total of 24,414 patients with mental illness from 2019 to 2021 were included. Serum syphilis antibody test results and available demographic data were collected. Chi-square test and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The seroprevalence of syphilis was 0.59% (95% CI 0.49-0.69%) in patients with mental illness in the study area. There were significant differences in the seroprevalence of syphilis in age, marital status, occupation, urban region, and mental disease classification. The seroprevalence of syphilis increased with age (p < 0.01). The seroprevalence of syphilis was higher in patients with "Nonorganic sleep disorders" and "Reaction to severe stress, and adjustment disorders". Adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that the seroprevalence of syphilis in patients with mental illness was associated with age, region, and psychiatric classification. Older age group was a risk factor for syphilis seropositivity. Compared with schizophrenia, "bipolar affective disorder" (OR = 1.707, 95% CI: 1.017-2.864, p = 0.043) and "severe stress response and adjustment disorders"(R = 4.912, 95% CI: 1.138-21.204, p = 0.033) were risk factors for syphilis antibody positivity. CONCLUSIONS: The patients with "nonorganic sleep disorders" and "reaction to severe stress, and adjustment disorders" had a high seroprevalence of syphilis. Age and psychosis types became the influencing factors of the positive rate of serum syphilis antibody in patients with mental illness.

Scalable and Selective Electrochemical Hydrogenation of Polycyclic Arenes.

The reduction of aromatic compounds constitutes a fundamental and ongoing area of investigation. The selective reduction of polycyclic aromatic compounds to give either fully or partially reduced products remains a challenge, especially in applications to complex molecules at scale. Herein, we present a selective electrochemical hydrogenation of polycyclic arenes conducted under mild conditions. A noteworthy achievement of this approach is the ability to finely control both the complete and partial reduction of specific aromatic rings within polycyclic arenes by judiciously varying the reaction solvents. Mechanistic investigations elucidate the pivotal role played by in situ proton generation and interface regulation in governing reaction selectivity. The reductive electrochemical conditions show a very high level of functional-group tolerance. Furthermore, this methodology represents an easily scalable reduction (demonstrated by the reduction of 1 kg scale starting material) using electrochemical flow chemistry to give key intermediates for the synthesis of specific drugs.

Primary leiomyosarcoma of epididymis: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Leiomyosarcoma is a tumor that can develop in any organ that contains smooth muscles. Although leiomyosarcoma is common, its epididymal localization is quite rare. CASE PRESENTATION: A 79-year-old male Chinese Han patient presented with mild pain in the right groin and scrotum for 3 years concomitant with right scrotal swelling. Ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging of the scrotum showed a irregular and heterogeneous mass that was extratesticular. Right high orchiectomy was performed, and pathological examination of the resected specimen confirmed the diagnosis of leiomyosarcoma of the epididymis with surgical margins clear of tumor. CONCLUSION: Epididymal leiomyosarcoma is rare and difficult to diagnose preoperatively. The final diagnosis of epididymal leiomyosarcoma requires histologic examination. Resection must be extensive and complete. The effect of chemotherapy and radiation on the epididymal leiomyosarcoma remains unclear. Recurrence is common, so follow-up is necessary.

Multi-scale variational autoencoder for imputation of missing values in untargeted metabolomics using whole-genome sequencing data.

BACKGROUND: Missing data is a common challenge in mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, which can lead to biased and incomplete analyses. The integration of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data with metabolomics data has emerged as a promising approach to enhance the accuracy of data imputation in metabolomics studies. METHOD: In this study, we propose a novel method that leverages the information from WGS data and reference metabolites to impute unknown metabolites. Our approach utilizes a multi-scale variational autoencoder to jointly model the burden score, polygenetic risk score (PGS), and linkage disequilibrium (LD) pruned single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for feature extraction and missing metabolomics data imputation. By learning the latent representations of both omics data, our method can effectively impute missing metabolomics values based on genomic information. RESULTS: We evaluate the performance of our method on empirical metabolomics datasets with missing values and demonstrate its superiority compared to conventional imputation techniques. Using 35 template metabolites derived burden scores, PGS and LD-pruned SNPs, the proposed methods achieved R2-scores > 0.01 for 71.55 % of metabolites. CONCLUSION: The integration of WGS data in metabolomics imputation not only improves data completeness but also enhances downstream analyses, paving the way for more comprehensive and accurate investigations of metabolic pathways and disease associations. Our findings offer valuable insights into the potential benefits of utilizing WGS data for metabolomics data imputation and underscore the importance of leveraging multi-modal data integration in precision medicine research.

Exploring a maize-derived dietary fiber-phenolic acid complex with prebiotic effects.

The structural, functional, and prebiotic properties of three maize-derived cell wall dietary fiber-phenolic acid complexes (CWDFPC1, CWDFPC2, and CWDFPC3) were investigated. The results showed that all three CWDFPCs had similar proximate composition and XRD pattern (type I). However, there were significant differences in the phytochemical profiles of their phenolic compounds (PC). Although the testa was the primary source of bound PC (BPC) in all three CWDFPCs, CWDFPC2 had the highest BPC content (15.41 mg GAE/g) and exhibited the greatest antioxidant activity in vitro (DPPH and ABTS assays). The water holding capacity of CWDFPC1 (6.53 g/g) and CWDFPC3 (6.86 g/g) was higher than CWDFPC2 (4.84 g/g), and three CWDFPCs had similar nitrite ion adsorption capacity, bile adsorption capacity, and cation-exchange capacity. After 48 h of in vitro fecal fermentation, CWDFPC2 produced more short-chain fatty acids (46.33 mM) compared to CWDFPC1 and CWDFPC3 (40.26 mM and 44.20 mM, respectively).

Malignant glaucoma treated by low-dose laser cycloplasty: a 1-year multicenter prospective non-comparative study.

AIM: To report a one-year clinical outcomes of low-dose laser cycloplasty (LCP) among malignant glaucoma patients. METHODS: In this prospective, multicenter, non-comparative clinical study, participants with malignant glaucoma were recruited and underwent LCP at eight ophthalmic centers in China. Patients were followed up at 1wk, 1, 3, 6, and 12mo. Intraocular pressure (IOP), number of glaucoma medications, anterior chamber depth (ACD), and complications were recorded. Anatomical success was defined as the reformation of the anterior chamber based on slit-lamp biomicroscopy. Recurrence was defined by the presence of a shallow or flat anterior chamber after initial recovery from treatment. RESULTS: A total of 34 eyes received LCP. Mean IOP and medications decreased from 36.1±11.5 mm Hg with 3.3±1.5 glaucoma medications pre-treatment to 20.9±9.8 mm Hg (P<0.001) with 2.9±1.6 medications (P=0.046) at 1d, and 17.4±6.7 mm Hg (P<0.001) with 1.3±1.7 medications (P<0.001) at 12mo. The ACD increased from 1.1±0.8 mm at baseline to 1.7±1.0 mm and to 2.0±0.5 mm at 1d and 12mo, respectively. A total of 32 (94.1%) eyes achieved initial anatomical success. During follow-up, 2 (5.9%) eyes failed and 8 (23.5%) eyes relapsed, yielding a 12-month anatomical success rate of 64.3%. Complications including anterior synechia (8.82%), choroidal/ciliary detachment (5.88%) and hypopyon (2.94%) were observed within 1wk. CONCLUSION: LCP is simple, safe, and effective in reforming the anterior chamber in malignant glaucoma.

Comparative pathogenicity and histopathological analysis of Edwardsiella anguillarum intraperitoneal infection in milkfish (Chanos chanos), Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer).

Edwardsiella anguillarum, a highly virulent species within the Edwardsiella genus, causes significant mortality in milkfish farms in Taiwan. This study aimed to investigate the comparison of milkfish susceptibility, a newly identified host species in Taiwanese aquaculture, with other species Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer), to E. anguillarum, elucidating its pathogenicity across both seawater and freshwater aquaculture environments. The results showed milkfish exhibited the highest mortality rate of 85% within 48 h of infection, whereas Nile tilapia exhibited a mortality rate of 70% between the second- and tenth-day post challenge, and seabass exhibited a mortality rate of 25% between the second- and sixth-day post challenge. Gross lesions observed in milkfish included splenomegaly and haemorrhage, whereas Nile tilapia exhibited signs of ascites, exophthalmia and brain haemorrhage. Seabass displayed spleen granulomas and haemorrhage at the injection site. Histopathological analysis revealed common features across all three species, including multifocal necrosis, bacterial presence in the necrotic areas, serositis and oedema. Asian seabass also exhibited chronic lesions in the form of splenic granulomas. This study highlights the high susceptibility of milkfish and Nile tilapia to E. anguillarum, emphasizing the urgent need for further investigation into targeted vaccine development for these fish species. These results not only deepen our understanding of the differing levels of pathogenicity among the three species but also offer valuable insights for improving disease prevention and management strategies in aquaculture, including those applied within polyculture systems and for the maintenance of aquaculture water environments.

New alkylamides from the pericarps of Zanthoxylum schinifolium.

The pericarps of Zanthoxylum schinifolium Sieb. et Zucc were called "green huajiao", which were used as traditional folk medicine and popular seasoning in China. In this study, twenty-seven alkylamides, including a rare alkylamide containing two amide groups (1), an alkylamide with a furan ring (5), six new alkylamide analogues (2-4, 6-8), together with nineteen known alkylamides (9-27) were isolated from green huajiao. Their structures were elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis, including 1D, 2D NMR, HRESIMS, and UV spectra. Furthermore, compounds 5, 18, 21, and 22 exhibited weak protective activity for corticosterone-induced PC12 cells damage.

Supercooled erythritol for high-performance seasonal thermal energy storage.

Seasonal storage of solar thermal energy through supercooled phase change materials (PCM) offers a promising solution for decarbonizing space and water heating in winter. Despite the high energy density and adaptability, natural PCMs often lack the necessary supercooling for stable, long-term storage. Leveraging erythritol, a sustainable mid-temperature PCM with high latent heat, we introduce a straightforward method to stabilize its supercooling by incorporating carrageenan (CG), a bio-derived food thickener. By improving the solid-liquid interfacial energy with the addition of CG the latent heat of erythritol can be effectively locked at a very low temperature. We show that the composite PCM can sustain an ultrastable supercooled state below -30 °C, which guarantees no accidental loss of the latent heat in severe cold regions on Earth. We further demonstrate that the common ultrasonication method can be used as the key to unlocking the latent heat stored in the CG-thickened erythritol, showing its great potential to serve as a high-performance, eco-friendly PCM for long-term seasonal solar energy storage.

Integrated mRNA-miRNA transcriptome profiling of blood immune responses potentially related to pulmonary fibrosis in forest musk deer.

Background: Forest musk deer (FMD, Moschus Berezovskii) is a critically endangered species world-widely, the death of which can be caused by pulmonary disease in the farm. Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) was a huge threat to the health and survival of captive FMD. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) have been involved in the regulation of immune genes and disease development. However, the regulatory profiles of mRNAs and miRNAs involved in immune regulation of FMD are unclear. Methods: In this study, mRNA-seq and miRNA-seq in blood were performed to constructed coexpression regulatory networks between PF and healthy groups of FMD. The hub immune- and apoptosis-related genes in the PF blood of FMD were explored through Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis. Further, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of immune-associated and apoptosis-associated key signaling pathways were constructed based on mRNA-miRNA in the PF blood of the FMD. Immune hub DEGs and immune hub DEmiRNAs were selected for experimental verification using RT-qPCR. Results: A total of 2744 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 356 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were identified in the PF blood group compared to the healthy blood group. Among them, 42 DEmiRNAs were negatively correlated with 20 immune DEGs from a total of 57 correlations. The DEGs were significantly associated with pathways related to CD molecules, immune disease, immune system, cytokine receptors, T cell receptor signaling pathway, Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, intestinal immune network for IgA production, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. There were 240 immune-related DEGs, in which 186 immune-related DEGs were up-regulated and 54 immune-related DEGs were down-regulated. In the protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis of immune-related signaling pathway, TYK2, TLR2, TLR4, IL18, CSF1, CXCL13, LCK, ITGB2, PIK3CB, HCK, CD40, CD86, CCL3, CCR7, IL2RA, TLR3, and IL4R were identified as the hub immune genes. The mRNA-miRNA coregulation analysis showed that let-7d, miR-324-3p, miR-760, miR-185, miR-149, miR-149-5p, and miR-1842-5p are key miRNAs that target DEGs involved in immune disease, immune system and immunoregulation. Conclusion: The development and occurrence of PF were significantly influenced by the immune-related and apoptosis-related genes present in PF blood. mRNAs and miRNAs associated with the development and occurrence of PF in the FMD.

Deep Learning-Based Prediction Model for the Cobb Angle in Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Patients.

Scoliosis, characterized by spine deformity, is most common in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Manual Cobb angle measurement limitations underscore the need for automated tools. This study employed a vertebral landmark extraction method and Feedforward Neural Network (FNN) to predict scoliosis progression in 79 AIS patients. The novel intervertebral angles matrix format showcased results. The mean absolute error for the intervertebral angle progression was 1.5 degrees, while the Pearson correlation of the predicted Cobb angles was 0.86. The accuracy in classifying Cobb angles (<15°, 15-25°, 25-35°, 35-45°, >45°) was 0.85, with 0.65 sensitivity and 0.91 specificity. The FNN demonstrated superior accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity, aiding in tailored treatments for potential scoliosis progression. Addressing FNNs' over-fitting issue through strategies like "dropout" or regularization could further enhance their performance. This study presents a promising step towards automated scoliosis diagnosis and prognosis.

Postoperative rehabilitation and quality of life evaluation for transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach.

There are no targeted rehabilitation training modalities and assessment tools for patients after transoral endoscopic thyroidectomy vestibular approach (TOETVA). Herein, we develop a new assessment questionnaire and rehabilitation training modality and evaluate its safety and effectiveness. The THYCA-QoL-TOETVA questionnaire was compiled, and reliability and validity analyses were performed. Patients were divided into the new rehabilitation training group (N) or the conventional rehabilitation training group (C), and 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) was performed after administering questionnaires to patients in both groups. Cervical range of motion (CROM) data were also measured and collected for statistical analysis. The questionnaire used in this study showed good expert authority, coordination, internal consistency, and questionnaire reliability. A total of 476 patients were included after PSM, and the questionnaire results showed that recovery and quality of life were better in the N group than in the C group (124.55 ± 8.171 vs. 122.94 ± 8.366, p = 0.026). Analysis of cervical spine mobility showed that rehabilitation was better in the N group compared to the C group at postoperative one month (flexion: 1.762°, extension: 4.720°, left lateral bending: 3.912°, right lateral bending: 4.061°, left axial rotation: 5.180°, right axial rotation: 5.199°, p value all of these < 0.001), and at postoperative three months (flexion: 2.866°, extension: 2.904°, left lateral bending: 3.927°, right lateral bending: 3.330°, left axial rotation: 4.395°, right axial rotation: 3.992°, p value all of these < 0.001). The THYCA-QoL-TOETVA provides an appropriate and effective tool for measuring the postoperative quality of life of TOETVA patients. This new rehabilitation training can effectively alleviate the problem of limited neck movement and improve the quality of life of patients after TOETVA surgery.Trial registration: ChiCTR2300069097.

Comparative Study on the Mechanism of Macrophage Activation Induced by Polysaccharides from Fresh and Dried Longan.

Longan (Dimcarpus longan Lour.) is a kind of traditional fruit used as a medicine and a food. Fresh longan is primarily consumed as a fruit, whereas dried longan is commonly employed for medicinal purposes. The differences in the immunomodulatory activities and mechanisms of polysaccharides between dried and fresh longan remain unclear. The present study comparatively analyzed the mechanisms of macrophage activation induced by polysaccharides from dried (LPG) and fresh longan (LPX). The results revealed that LPG and LPX differentially promoted macrophage phagocytosis and the secretion of NO, TNF-α, and IL-6. RNA-seq analysis revealed that LPG and LPX differentially affected gene expression in macrophages. The LPG treatment identified Tnf and chemokine-related genes as core genes, while myd88 and interferon-related genes were the core genes affected by LPX. A comprehensive analysis of the differentially expressed genes showed that LPG initiated macrophage activation primarily through the TLR2/4-mediated TRAM/TRAF6 and CLR-mediated Src/Raf1 NF-κB signaling pathways. LPX initiated macrophage activation predominantly via the CLR-mediated Bcl10/MALT1 and NLR-mediated Rip2/TAK1 MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways. Interestingly, the non-classical NF-κB signaling pathway was activated by polysaccharides in both dried and fresh longan to elicit a slow, mild immune response. LPG tends to promote immune cell migration to engage in the immune response, while LPX facilitates antigen presentation to promote T cell activation. These findings contribute insights into the mechanisms underlying the differences in bioactivity between dried and fresh longan and their potential applications in immune-enhancing strategies and functional-food development.

Molecular weight-dependent differences in spectral properties and metal-binding behaviors of dissolved organic matter from different lakes.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in governing metal speciation and migration in aquatic systems. In this study, various DOM samples were collected from Lakes Erhai, Kokonor, and Chaka, and size-fractionated into high molecular weight (HMW, 1 kDa-0.7 µm) and low molecular weight (LMW, <1 kDa) fractions for measurements of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), spectral properties, and metal binding behaviors. Our results demonstrated that samples from Lake Chaka exhibited the highest DOC concentration and fluorescence indices but the lowest percentage of carbohydrates. Regardless of sampling locations, the HMW-DOM fractions contained higher abundances of aromatic DOM, carbohydrates and protein-like substances, but lower abundance of fulvic acid-like substances compared to those in the LMW fractions. Metal titration experiments coupled with the excitation-emission matrix (EEM)-parallel factor (PARAFAC) modeling revealed that the quenching of the PARAFAC-derived fluorescent components was more pronounced in the presence of Cu(II) compared to Pb(II). Humic-like components emerged as a superior model, exhibiting higher binding affinities for Cu(II) than protein-like substances, while the opposite trend was observed for Pb(II). In samples obtained from Lakes Erhai and Kokonor, the condition stability constants (Log KM) for the binding of both Cu(II) and Pb(II) with the HMW-DOM fraction were higher than those with the LMW-DOM fraction. Conversely, a contrasting trend was observed for Lake Chaka. This study highlighted the heterogeneity in spectral properties and metal-binding behaviors of natural DOMs, contributing to an improved understanding of the molecular interactions between DOM components and metal ions and their environmental fate in aquatic ecosystems.