Simultaneous Production of MK-7 and Iturin A by Bacillus velezensis ND.

Bacillus velezensis can produce various secondary metabolites, such as the antibacterial compound iturin A and the coagulation-promoting menaquinone-7 (MK-7). To enhance the economic feasibility of the fermentation process, a co-production strategy, involving the simultaneous production of MK-7 and iturin A by Bacillus velezensis ND, was investigated in this study. Firstly, the effects of cultivation temperature and initial pH on the synthesis of MK-7 and iturin A were investigated. Considering the co-production of iturin A and MK-7, the optimal temperature and pH were determined as 32 °C and 7, respectively. Subsequently, important nutrients for the co-production process were investigated. It was observed that glycerol, soybean meal, yeast extract, and L-glutamate had a significant effect on the co-produce process. An optimal medium composed of glycerol (72.19 mL L-1), L-glutamate (1.4 g L-1), yeast extract (16.88 g L-1), and soybean meal (130.95 g L-1) was obtained by response surface methodology (RSM). This co-produce process was further scaled up in a biofilm reactor, and the maximum concentration of MK-7 and iturin A reached 46.88 mg L-1 and 5.58 g L-1, respectively. Finally, we established an effective method for separately extracting the two metabolites from the fermentation broth. The superiority of this co-production fermentation strategy demonstrates its significant potential for industrial production.

Synergistic increase in coproporphyrin III biosynthesis by mitochondrial compartmentalization in engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Coproporphyrin III (CP III), a natural porphyrin derivative, has extensive applications in the biomedical and material industries. S. cerevisiae has previously been engineered to highly accumulate the CP III precursor 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) through the C4 pathway. In this study, a combination of cytoplasmic metabolic engineering and mitochondrial compartmentalization was used to enhance CP III production in S. cerevisiae. By integrating pathway genes into the chromosome, the CP III titer gradually increased to 32.5 ± 0.5 mg/L in shake flask cultivation. Nevertheless, increasing the copy number of pathway genes did not consistently enhance CP III synthesis. Hence, the partial synthesis pathway was compartmentalized in mitochondria to evaluate its effectiveness in increasing CP III production. Subsequently, by superimposing the mitochondrial compartmentalization strategy on cytoplasmic metabolic engineered strains, the CP III titer was increased to 64.3 ± 1.9 mg/L. Furthermore, augmenting antioxidant pathway genes to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels effectively improved the growth of engineered strains, resulting in a further increase in the CP III titer to 82.9 ± 1.4 mg/L. Fed-batch fermentations in a 5 L bioreactor achieved a titer of 402.8 ± 9.3 mg/L for CP III. This study provides a new perspective on engineered yeast for the microbial production of porphyrins.

Reducing Diarrhea in Critically Ill Patients Receiving Enteral Nutrition Support: An Evidence-Based Quality Improvement Project.

BACKGROUND: Diarrhea during enteral nutrition may induce various complications and increase the nursing workload. LOCAL PROBLEM: The diarrhea rate in our intensive care units (ICUs) was 37.14% from May to July 2021. Nurses reported a moderate to heavy burden regarding care for those with diarrhea. METHODS: A pre-post implementation design was used to evaluate the impact of evidence-based interventions for diarrhea screening and prevention. INTERVENTIONS: A diarrhea risk screening tool and countermeasures were developed through an extensive literature review. Tools were integrated into the electronic health record system. RESULTS: The rate of diarrhea decreased from 37.14% to 17.33% ( P = .000). Nurse's compliance with practice standards increased for diarrhea assessment, risk factor screening, agent choice, and countermeasures provision ( P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: The evidence-based tools developed for this project helped decrease the diarrhea rate in our ICUs.

siRNA nanoparticle targeting Usp20 lowers lipid levels and ameliorates metabolic syndrome in mice.

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is closely correlated with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). In feeding state, glucose and insulin activate mTORC1 that phosphorylates the deubiquitylase USP20. USP20 then stabilizes HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR), thereby increasing lipid biosynthesis. In this study, we applied clinically approved lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) to encapsulate the siRNA targeting Usp20. We demonstrated that silencing of hepatic Usp20 by siRNA decreased body weight, improved insulin sensitivity and increased energy expenditure through elevating UCP1. In Ldlr-/- mice, silencing Usp20 by siRNA decreased lipid levels and prevented atherosclerosis. This study suggests that the RNAi-based therapy targeting hepatic Usp20 has a translational potential to treat metabolic disease.

Integrative analysis of single-Cell RNA sequencing and experimental validation in the study of abdominal aortic aneurysm progression.

BACKGROUND: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a complex vascular disorder characterized by the progressive dilation of the abdominal aorta, with a high risk of rupture and mortality. Understanding the cellular interactions and molecular mechanisms underlying AAA development is critical for identifying potential therapeutic targets. METHODS: This study utilized datasets GSE197748, GSE164678 and GSE183464 from the GEO database, encompassing bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing data from AAA and control samples. We performed principal component analysis, differential expression analysis, and functional enrichment analysis to identify key pathways involved in AAA. Cell-cell interactions were investigated using CellPhoneDB, focusing on fibroblasts, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), and macrophages. We further validated our findings using a mouse model of AAA induced by porcine pancreatic enzyme infusion, followed by gene expression analysis and co-immunoprecipitation experiments. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed significant alterations in gene expression profiles between AAA and control samples, with a pronounced immune response and cell adhesion pathways being implicated. Single-cell RNA sequencing data highlighted an increased proportion of pro-inflammatory macrophages, along with changes in the composition of fibroblasts and VSMCs in AAA. CellPhoneDB analysis identified critical ligand-receptor interactions, notably collagen type I alpha 1 chain (COL1A1)/COL1A2-CD18 and thrombospondin 1 (THBS1)-CD3, suggesting complex communication networks between fibroblasts and VSMCs. In vivo experiments confirmed the upregulation of these genes in AAA mice and demonstrated the functional interaction between COL1A1/COL1A2 and CD18. CONCLUSION: The interaction between fibroblasts and VSMCs, mediated by specific ligand-receptor pairs such as COL1A1/COL1A2-CD18 and THBS1-CD3, plays a pivotal role in AAA pathogenesis.

Long-Circulating and Brain-Targeted Liposomes Loaded with Isoliquiritigenin: Formation, Characterization, Pharmacokinetics, and Distribution.

Isoliquiritigenin (ISL) has excellent neuroprotective effects. However, its limitations, including poor solubility, low bioavailability, and low accumulation in the brain, restrict its clinical promotion. In this study, a novel type of ISL-loaded liposome (ISL-LP) modified with the brain-targeting polypeptide angiopep-2 was prepared to improve these properties. The zeta potential, morphology, particle size, encapsulation efficiency, drug loading, and in vitro release of ISL-LP were evaluated. The pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of ISL and ISL-LP were also investigated. The results demonstrated that ISL-LP had an average particle size of 89.36 ± 5.04 nm, a polymer dispersity index of 0.17 ± 0.03, a zeta potential of -20.27 ± 2.18 mV, and an encapsulation efficiency of 75.04 ± 3.28%. The in vitro release experiments indicate that ISL-LP is a desirable sustained-release system. After intravenous administration, LPC-LP prolonged the circulation time of ISL in vivo and enhanced its relative brain uptake. In conclusion, ISL-LP could serve as a promising brain-targeting system for the treatment and prevention of central nervous system (CNS) disorders.

Nab-paclitaxel plus S-1 versus nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer: a multicenter, randomized, phase II study.

BACKGROUND: Encouraging antitumor activity of nab-paclitaxel plus S-1 (AS) has been shown in several small-scale studies. This study compared the efficacy and safety of AS versus standard-of-care nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine (AG) as a first-line treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer (PC). METHODS: In this multicenter, randomized, phase II trial, eligible patients with unresectable, locally advanced, or metastatic PC were recruited and randomly assigned (1:1) to receive AS (nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8; S-1 twice daily on days 1 through 14) or AG (nab-paclitaxel 125 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8; gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8) for 6 cycles. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). RESULTS: Between July 16, 2019, and September 9, 2022, 62 patients (AS, n = 32; AG, n = 30) were treated and evaluated. With a median follow-up of 8.36 months at preplanned interim analysis (data cutoff, March 24, 2023), the median PFS (8.48 vs 4.47 months; hazard ratio [HR], 0.402; P = .002) and overall survival (OS; 13.73 vs 9.59 months; HR, 0.226; P < .001) in the AS group were significantly longer compared to the AG group. More patients had objective response in the AS group than AG group (37.50% vs 6.67%; P = .005). The most common grade 3-4 adverse events were neutropenia and leucopenia in both groups, and gamma glutamyl transferase increase was observed only in the AG group. CONCLUSION: The first-line AS regimen significantly extended both PFS and OS of Chinese patients with advanced PC when compared with the AG regimen, with a comparable safety profile. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03636308).

Crystallographic phase identifier of a convolutional self-attention neural network (CPICANN) on powder diffraction patterns.

Spectroscopic data, particularly diffraction data, are essential for materials characterization due to their comprehensive crystallographic information. The current crystallographic phase identification, however, is very time consuming. To address this challenge, we have developed a real-time crystallographic phase identifier based on a convolutional self-attention neural network (CPICANN). Trained on 692 190 simulated powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns from 23 073 distinct inorganic crystallographic information files, CPICANN demonstrates superior phase-identification power. Single-phase identification on simulated XRD patterns yields 98.5 and 87.5% accuracies with and without elemental information, respectively, outperforming JADE software (68.2 and 38.7%, respectively). Bi-phase identification on simulated XRD patterns achieves 84.2 and 51.5% accuracies, respectively. In experimental settings, CPICANN achieves an 80% identification accuracy, surpassing JADE software (61%). Integration of CPICANN into XRD refinement software will significantly advance the cutting-edge technology in XRD materials characterization.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG coating with nanocomposite ameliorates intestinal inflammation.

The steady increase in the prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is regarded as a worldwide health issue. Gut microorganisms could modulate host immune and metabolic status and are associated with health effects. Probiotics, Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG), are beneficial microorganisms that ameliorate disease and exert advantageous effects on intestinal homeostasis. However, the viability of probiotics will suffer from various risk factors in the digestive tract. In this view, we developed a probiotic coating with nanocomposite using tannic acid (TA) and casein phosphopeptide (CPP) through layer-by-layer technology to overcome the challenges after oral administration. LGG showed an improved survival rate in simulated gastrointestinal conditions after coated. The coating (LGG/TA-Mg2+/CPP) had potent reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging ability and improved the survival rate of colorectal epithelial cells after H2O2 stimulation. In DSS-induced colitis, administration of LGG/TA-Mg2+/CPP ameliorated intestinal inflammation and reduced the disruption of barrier function. Furthermore, LGG/TA-Mg2+/CPP increased the abundance and diversity of the gut microbiota. In the mouse model of DSS colitis, LGG/TA-Mg2+/CPP can better activate the EGFR/AKT signaling pathway, thereby protecting the epithelial barrier function of the colon epithelium. In conclusion, the probiotic coating with nanocomposite may become a delivery platform for probiotics applied to IBD.

Systematic Mendelian Randomization Exploring Druggable Genes for Hemorrhagic Strokes.

Patients with hemorrhagic stroke have high rates of morbidity and mortality, and drugs for prevention are very limited. Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis can increase the success rate of drug development by providing genetic evidence. Previous MR analyses only analyzed the role of individual drug target genes in hemorrhagic stroke; therefore, we used MR analysis to systematically explore the druggable genes for hemorrhagic stroke. We sequentially performed summary-data-based MR analysis and two-sample MR analysis to assess the associations of all genes within the database with intracranial aneurysm, intracerebral hemorrhage, and their subtypes. Validated genes were further analyzed by colocalization. Only genes that were positive in all three analyses and were druggable were considered desirable genes. We also explored the mediators of genes affecting hemorrhagic stroke incidence. Finally, the associations of druggable genes with other cardiovascular diseases were analyzed to assess potential side effects. We identified 56 genes that significantly affected hemorrhagic stroke incidence. Moreover, TNFSF12, SLC22A4, SPARC, KL, RELT, and ADORA3 were found to be druggable. The inhibition of TNFSF12, SLC22A4, and SPARC can reduce the risk of intracranial aneurysm, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and intracerebral hemorrhage. Gene-induced hypertension may be a potential mechanism by which these genes cause hemorrhagic stroke. We also found that blocking these genes may cause side effects, such as ischemic stroke and its subtypes. Our study revealed that six druggable genes were associated with hemorrhagic stroke, and the inhibition of TNFSF12, SLC22A4, and SPARC had preventive effects against hemorrhagic strokes.

Case report: A case of bradycardia triggered by diarrhea.

BRASH syndrome is a vicious cycle of hyperkalemia and bradycardia and is an under-recognized life-threatening clinical diagnosis. It is usually initiated by hypovolemia or hyperkalemia. We report here on the case of a 92-year-old man with hypertension and heart failure who presented to the emergency department with weakness following diarrhea. He was on amlodipine, benazepril, metoprolol, furosemide and spironolactone. The patient's blood pressure was 88/53 mmHg and the serum creatinine was 241 µmol/L. Within 2 h, the patient's heart rate decreased from 58 beats per minute to 26 beats per minute, and serum potassium levels gradually increased from 6.07 mmol/L to 7.3 mmol/L. The electrocardiogram showed a junctional escape rhythm with accidental sinus capture. The diagnosis of BRASH syndrome was made based on clinical symptoms, a biochemical profile and the results of an electrocardiogram. The patient was rapidly stabilized with the administration of intravenous calcium gluconate, dextrose and insulin, 5% sodium bicarbonate, 0.9% sodium chloride, furosemide, and oral zirconium cyclosilicate. Sinus rhythm at a heart rate of 75 bpm was detected 5 h later, along with normal serum potassium levels. After 2 weeks, kidney function returned to normal. Clinicians should be alert to patients with hyperkalemia and maintain a high index of suspicion for BRASH syndrome. Timely diagnosis and comprehensive intervention are critical for better outcomes in managing patients with BRASH.

Polymer Fiber Rigid Network with High Glass Transition Temperature Reinforces Stability of Organic Photovoltaics.

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) need to overcome limitations such as insufficient thermal stability to be commercialized. The reported approaches to improve stability either rely on the development of new materials or on tailoring the donor/acceptor morphology, however, exhibiting limited applicability. Therefore, it is timely to develop an easy method to enhance thermal stability without having to develop new donor/acceptor materials or donor-acceptor compatibilizers, or by introducing another third component. Herein, a unique approach is presented, based on constructing a polymer fiber rigid network with a high glass transition temperature (Tg) to impede the movement of acceptor and donor molecules, to immobilize the active layer morphology, and thereby to improve thermal stability. A high-Tg one-dimensional aramid nanofiber (ANF) is utilized for network construction. Inverted OPVs with ANF network yield superior thermal stability compared to the ANF-free counterpart. The ANF network-incorporated active layer demonstrates significantly more stable morphology than the ANF-free counterpart, thereby leaving fundamental processes such as charge separation, transport, and collection, determining the device efficiency, largely unaltered. This strategy is also successfully applied to other photovoltaic systems. The strategy of incorporating a polymer fiber rigid network with high Tg offers a distinct perspective addressing the challenge of thermal instability with simplicity and universality.

Role of NLRP3 inflammasome in central nervous system diseases.

The central nervous system (CNS) is the most delicate system in human body, with the most complex structure and function. It is vulnerable to trauma, infection, neurodegeneration and autoimmune diseases, and activates the immune system. An appropriate inflammatory response contributes to defence against invading microbes, whereas an excessive inflammatory response can aggravate tissue damage. The NLRP3 inflammasome was the first one studied in the brain. Once primed and activated, it completes the assembly of inflammasome (sensor NLRP3, adaptor ASC, and effector caspase-1), leading to caspase-1 activation and increased release of downstream inflammatory cytokines, as well as to pyroptosis. Cumulative studies have confirmed that NLRP3 plays an important role in regulating innate immunity and autoimmune diseases, and its inhibitors have shown good efficacy in animal models of various inflammatory diseases. In this review, we will briefly discuss the biological characteristics of NLRP3 inflammasome, summarize the recent advances and clinical impact of the NLRP3 inflammasome in infectious, inflammatory, immune, degenerative, genetic, and vascular diseases of CNS, and discuss the potential and challenges of NLRP3 as a therapeutic target for CNS diseases.

Experience from transport teams on interhospital transfer of patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support: A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) can be a life-saving treatment for patients requiring advanced cardiopulmonary support. Several ECMO centres offer interhospital transport (ECMO IHT) services that involve establishing ECMO teams to initiate ECMO at referring hospitals and then transfer patients to ECMO centres. ECMO IHT is often high risk and complex. Understanding the experience of transport team members is crucial to ensure patient safety and promote quality improvement. AIM: To explore the experiences of transport teams performing ECMO IHT. STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive qualitative methodology was adopted. RESULTS: Thirteen health care professionals who have performed ECMO IHT at a general hospital in China agreed to be interviewed and enrolled in this study. Two investigators conducted face-to-face individual interviews in September-November 2022. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Three main themes and nine sub-themes were developed: (1) practicing with good organizational management (conducting training programs, cultivating the spirit of good teamwork and developing a standardized transport procedure), (2) dedicated to ensuring patient safety (adequate preparation and regular checking to reduce risk, accurate evaluation to avoid futility and maintaining communication to increase safety) and (3) having confidence despite being uneasy (feeling stressed is common, facing insecurity in transport settings and gaining confidence through practice). CONCLUSIONS: Health care professionals must adequately prepare and assess ECMO IHT to ensure patient safety. Supportive measures should be taken to ensure team members' health and improve patient safety. Good communication and teamwork could improve this challenging task. Further research is required for training programs and establishing standardized transport procedures. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: This study presents multi-professional perspectives on the experience of performing ECMO IHT to help management identify what needs to be further developed. With the increasing number of ECMO IHT, promoting its standardization is warranted.

Is decreasing problematic mobile phone use a pathway for alleviating adolescent depression and sleep disorders? A randomized controlled trial testing the effectiveness of an eight-session mindfulness-based intervention.

Objective: The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) intervention in reducing problematic mobile phone use, depression, and sleep disorders among adolescents. Additionally, it sought to investigate whether the decrease in problematic mobile phone use acted as a mediator in the relationship between the MBCT intervention and adolescent depression and sleep disorders. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, a total of 104 adolescents were randomly assigned to the mindfulness group (n = 52) or the wait-list control group (n = 52). The mindfulness group students completed eight 45-min sessions of mindfulness training in four weeks. The outcomes were measured at baseline, postintervention, and at the 2-month follow-up. Results: Compared with the control group, the mindfulness group had significantly greater levels of mindfulness and lower levels of problematic mobile phone use, depression, and sleep disorders postintervention. The intervention effects were maintained at the 2-month follow-up. In addition, decreased problematic mobile phone use significantly mediated the association between the MBCT intervention and decreased depression and decreased sleep disorders. Conclusion: The findings suggest that MBCT could improve adolescent depression and sleep disorders and that decreasing problematic mobile phone use is an effective pathway accounting for the MBCT intervention effect on adolescent depression and sleep disorders.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Exacerbates NASH Progression via Selective Autophagy-Mediated Eepd1 Degradation.

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), characterized by chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH), is an independent risk factor for aggravating non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The prevailing mouse model employed in CIH research is inadequate for the comprehensive exploration of the impact of CIH on NASH development due to reduced food intake observed in CIH-exposed mice, which deviates from human responses. To address this issue, a pair-feeding investigation with CIH-exposed and normoxia-exposed mice is conducted. It is revealed that CIH exposure aggravates DNA damage, leading to hepatic fibrosis and inflammation. The analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) data also discloses the association between Eepd1, a DNA repair enzyme, and OSAS. Furthermore, it is revealed that CIH triggered selective autophagy, leading to the autophagic degradation of Eepd1, thereby exacerbating DNA damage in hepatocytes. Notably, Eepd1 liver-specific knockout mice exhibit aggravated hepatic DNA damage and further progression of NASH. To identify a therapeutic approach for CIH-induced NASH, a drug screening is conducted and it is found that Retigabine dihydrochloride suppresses CIH-mediated Eepd1 degradation, leading to alleviated DNA damage in hepatocytes. These findings imply that targeting CIH-mediated Eepd1 degradation can be an adjunctive approach in the treatment of NASH exacerbated by OSAS.

Relational Part-Aware Learning for Complex Composite Object Detection in High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images.

In high-resolution remote sensing images (RSIs), complex composite object detection (e.g., coal-fired power plant detection and harbor detection) is challenging due to multiple discrete parts with variable layouts leading to complex weak inter-relationship and blurred boundaries, instead of a clearly defined single object. To address this issue, this article proposes an end-to-end framework, i.e., relational part-aware network (REPAN), to explore the semantic correlation and extract discriminative features among multiple parts. Specifically, we first design a part region proposal network (P-RPN) to locate discriminative yet subtle regions. With butterfly units (BFUs) embedded, feature-scale confusion problems stemming from aliasing effects can be largely alleviated. Second, a feature relation Transformer (FRT) plumbs the depths of the spatial relationships by part-and-global joint learning, exploring correlations between various parts to enhance significant part representation. Finally, a contextual detector (CD) classifies and detects parts and the whole composite object through multirelation-aware features, where part information guides to locate the whole object. We collect three remote sensing object detection datasets with four categories to evaluate our method. Consistently surpassing the performance of state-of-the-art methods, the results of extensive experiments underscore the effectiveness and superiority of our proposed method.

Consanguinity and Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Depressed Patients: New Risk Factors and Risk Prediction Models.

Objective: The aim of the study was to identify the risk factors associated with nonsuicidal self-injurious (NSSI) behavior in patients with depressive disorders and develop predictive models utilizing these influencing factors as predictors, followed by validation of the constructed models for their efficacy. Methods: Patients with depression disorders admitted to Wuhan Mental Health Center from 2020 to 2021 were included using retrospective analysis. Patients who exhibited one or more items on the NSSI behavior rating questionnaire were categorized into the NSSI group, while those without any such behaviors were assigned to the non-NSSI group. Patients in both groups were categorized separately based on gender, age, personality traits, and interpersonal relationships. The above data were analyzed using multiple logistic regression analysis. Prediction models were constructed, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were produced and model accuracy was calculated. Results: A total of 237 patients were included in this study, with 122 patients assigned to the NSSI group and 115 patients assigned to the non-NSSI group. By comparing the baseline data of the patients in the 2 groups, the results revealed statistically significant differences between the 2 groups in terms of age, grades at school, early childhood parenting style, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), and Experiences in Close Relationships Scale (ECRS) (P＜.05). However, no statistically significant differences were observed for the remaining indicators (P＞.05). The results of the multiple logistic regression model showed that grades at school, early childhood parenting style, HAMD, HAMA, and ECRS scores were risk factors. The ROC model was constructed using school performance, childhood parenting style, HAMD, HAMA, and ECRS scores as predictors. The findings indicated that the ECRS score was the best predictor of NSSI, and it had a sensitivity of 91.8% and specificity of 70.5% for an area of 0.967. Conclusion: ECRS was utilized as a predictor to evaluate the NSSI inclination of depressed patients with commendable sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, early childhood parenting style, HAMD, HAMA, and ECRS scores were identified as risk factors for NSSI. For individuals at high risk who exhibit these aforementioned risk factors, clinical diagnosis and treatment should be approached with caution.

Effects of Gnaphalium affine Extract on the Gel Properties of •OH-Induced Oxidation of Myofibrillar Proteins.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of Gnaphalium affine extract (GAE) (0.04, 0.2 and 1 mg/g protein) on the gel properties of porcine myofibrillar proteins (MPs) in a simulated Fenton oxidation system, using tea polyphenols (TPs) at similar concentrations of 0.04, 0.2, and 1 mg/g protein, respectively, as a contrast. The findings revealed that as the TP concentration increased, the water retention of MP gels decreased significantly (p < 0.05). In contrast, MP gels containing medium and high concentrations of GAE exhibited significantly higher water retention than those with low concentrations of GAE (p < 0.05). When the concentration of GAE was increased to 1 mg/g protein, the strength of MP gels was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) by 33.32% compared with the oxidized control group, suggesting that low and medium GAE concentrations support MP gel formation. A texture profile analysis indicated that an appropriate GAE concentration improved gel structure and texture. Dynamic rheological characterization revealed that low concentrations of TP (0.04 mg/g protein) and low and medium concentrations of GAE (0.04 and 0.2 mg/g protein) strengthened the protein gel system. Conversely, high concentrations of TP and GAE (1.0 mg/g protein) damaged the protein gel system or even promoted the collapse of the gel system. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that higher TP concentrations disrupted the gel, whereas low and medium GAE concentrations maintained a more continuous and complete gel network structure compared with the oxidized control group. This indicates that an appropriate GAE concentration could effectively hinder the destruction of the gel network structure by oxidation. Therefore, based on the obtained results, 0.2 mg/g protein is recommended as the ideal concentration of GAE to be used in actual meat processing to regulate the oxidization and gel properties of meat products.

Dynamics and timing of diversification events of ciliated eukaryotes from a large phylogenomic perspective.

Ciliophora, an exceptionally diverse lineage of unicellular eukaryotes, exhibits a remarkable range of species richness across classes in the ciliate Tree of Life. In this study, we have acquired transcriptome and genome data from 40 representative species in seven ciliate classes. Utilizing 247 genes and 105 taxa, we devised a comprehensive phylogenomic tree for Ciliophora, encompassing over 60 % of orders and constituting the most extensive dataset of ciliate species to date. We established a robust phylogenetic framework that encompasses ambiguous taxa and the major classes within the phylum. Our findings support the monophyly of each of two subphyla (Postciliodesmatophora and Intramacronucleata), along with three subclades (Protocruzia, CONTHREEP, and SAPML) nested within Intramacronucleata, and elucidate evolutionary positions among the major classes within the phylum. Drawing on the robust ciliate Tree of Life and three constraints, we estimated the radiation of Ciliophora around 1175 Ma during the middle of the Proterozoic Eon, and most of the ciliate classes diverged from their sister lineage during the latter half of this period. Additionally, based on the time-calibrated tree and species richness pattern, we investigated net diversification rates of Ciliophora and its classes. The global net diversification rate for Ciliophora was estimated at 0.004979 species/Ma. Heterogeneity in net diversification rates was evident at the class level, with faster rates observed in Oligohymenophorea and Spirotrichea than other classes within the subclades CONTHREEP and SAPML, respectively. Notably, our analysis suggests that variations in net diversification rates, rather than clade ages, appear to contribute to the differences in species richness in Ciliophora at the class level.