Improvement of soil nutrient cycling by dominant plants in natural restoration of heavy metal polluted areas.

Referring to the natural succession to restore polluted land is one of the most vital assignments to solving the environmental problems. However, there is little understanding of the natural restoration of nutrient biogeochemical cycles in abandoned land with severe metal pollution. To clarify the nutrient cycling process and the influence of organisms on it, we investigated the magnitude of rhizosphere effects on soil nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) cycles in natural restoration of an abandoned metal mine, as well as the roles of plants and microorganisms in the nutrient cycles. Our data revealed that the rhizosphere had higher levels of ammoniation than non-rhizosphere soil at both stages of restoration. In the early stage, the rhizosphere had greater levels of inorganic phosphorus and organophosphorus solubilisation, as well as sulphite oxidation, compared to non-rhizosphere soil. The bacterial composition influenced the N and S cycles, while the fungal composition had the greatest effect on the P cycles. Furthermore, rhizosphere nutrition cycles and microbial communities altered according plant strategy. Overall, the plants that colonize the early stages of natural recovery demonstrate enhanced restoration of nutrient efficiency. These results contribute to further knowledge of nutrient recovery in mining areas, as well as suggestions for selecting remedial microorganisms and plants in metal-polluted environments.

Response surface methodology-based optimization of Inonotus hispidus' liquid fermentation medium and evaluation of its exopolysaccharide activities.

Introduction: Inonotus hispidus, commonly referred to as the Sanghuang mushroom, is a species that is consumed as a tea. To date, this is the only species of the same fungus that has been successfully cultivated. Methods: A single-factor test was conducted using Inonotus hispidus MS-5 and MS-9 as test materials. The response surface methodology was adopted to design and optimise the liquid fermentation medium for them. Results: As indicated in the results, the optimum fermentation conditions for MS-5 include 24.09 g/L glucose, 7.88 g/L yeast extract, 0.99 g/L dandelion powder, 1.5 g MgSO4, 2 g KH2PO4, 0.01 g vitamin B1, and 1 L deionized water; the optimum fermentation conditions for MS-9 include 24.64 g/L glucose, 7.77 g/L yeast extract, 0.98 g/L dandelion powder, 1.5 g MgSO4, 2 g KH2PO4, 0.01 g vitamin B1, and 1 L deionized water. Under such conditions, the mycelial biomass (dry weight) values were able to reach 16.02 g/L and 14.91 g/L for MS-5 and MS-9, respectively, which were 1.6 and 1.54 times those measured before optimization. Discussion: As revealed in the antioxidant and anticancer experiment, Inonotus hispidus exopolysaccharides has corresponding functional effects at the cellular level. This research optimised the liquid culture formulation of Inonotus hispidus and demonstrated that the function of it as a traditional Sanghuang herbal tea is well-documented.

Correction of thermal airflow distortion in warpage measurements of microelectronic packaging structures via deep learning-based digital image correlation.

The projected speckle-based three-dimensional digital image correlation method (3D-DIC) is being increasingly used in the reliability measurement of microelectronic packaging structures because of its noninvasive nature, high precision, and low cost. However, during the measurement of the thermal reliability of packaging structures, the thermal airflow generated by heating introduces distortions in the images captured by the DIC measurement system, impacting the accuracy and reliability of noncontact measurements. To address this challenge, a thermal airflow distortion correction model based on the transformer attention mechanism is proposed specifically for the measurement of thermal warpage in microelectronic packaging structures. This model avoids the oversmoothing issue associated with convolutional neural networks and the lack of physical constraints in generative adversarial networks, ensuring the precision of grayscale gradient changes in speckle patterns and minimizing adverse effects on DIC calculation accuracy. By inputting the distorted images captured by the DIC measurement system into the network, corrected images are obtained for 3D-DIC calculations, thus allowing the thermal warpage measurement results of the sample to be acquired. Through experiments measuring topography with customized step block specimens, the effectiveness of the proposed method in improving warpage measurement accuracy is confirmed; this is particularly true when captured images are affected by thermal airflow at 140 °C and 160 °C, temperatures commonly encountered in thermal reliability testing of packaging structures. The method successfully reduces the standard deviation from 9.829 to 5.943 µm and from 12.318 to 6.418 µm, respectively. The results demonstrate the substantial practical value of this method for measuring thermal warpage in microelectronic packaging structures.

Sustained release of 5-aminosalicylic acid from azoreductase-responsive polymeric prodrugs for prolonged colon-targeted colitis therapy.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a challenging inflammatory gastrointestinal disorder, whose therapies encounter limitations in overcoming insufficient colonic retention and rapid systemic clearance. In this study, we report an innovative polymeric prodrug nanoformulation for targeted UC treatment through sustained 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) delivery. Amphiphilic polymer-based 13.5 nm micelles were engineered to incorporate azo-linked 5-ASA prodrug motifs, enabling cleavage via colonic azoreductases. In vitro, micelles exhibited excellent stability under gastric/intestinal conditions while demonstrating controlled 5-ASA release over 24 h in colonic fluids. Orally administered micelles revealed prolonged 24-h retention and a high accumulation within inflamed murine colonic tissue. At an approximately 60% dose reduction from those most advanced recent studies, the platform halted DSS colitis progression and outperformed standard 5-ASA therapy through a 77-97% suppression of inflammatory markers. Histological analysis confirmed intact colon morphology and restored barrier protein expression. This integrated prodrug nanoformulation addresses limitations in colon-targeted UC therapy through localized bioactivation and tailored pharmacokinetics, suggesting the potential of nanotechnology-guided precision delivery to transform disease management.

Progressive Decision Boundary Shifting for Unsupervised Domain Adaptation.

Unsupervised domain adaptation (UDA) is attracting more attention from researchers for boosting the task-specific generalization on target domain. It focuses on addressing the domain shift between the labeled source domain and the unlabeled target domain. Recent biclassifier-based UDA models perform category-level alignment to reduce domain shift, and meanwhile, self-training is used for improving the discriminability of target instances. However, the error accumulation problem of instances with high semantic uncertainty may cause discriminability degradation and category-level misalignment. To solve this issue, we design the progressive decision boundary shifting algorithm, where stable category information of target instances is explored for learning a discriminability structure on target domain. Specifically, we first model the semantic uncertainty of instances by progressively shifting decision boundaries of category. Then, we introduce the uncertainty decoupling in a contrastive manner, where the discriminative information is learned from the source domain for instance with low semantic uncertainty. Furthermore, we minimize the predictive entropy of instances with high semantic uncertainty to reduce their prediction confidence. Extensive experiments on three popular datasets show that our model outperforms the current state-of-the-art (SOTA) UDA methods.

Proteomic analysis of brain tissue from ducks with meningitis caused by Riemerella anatipestifer infection.

Riemerella anatipestifer is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium that is flagellated, non-budded, and encapsulated, measuring approximately 0.4 µm × 0.7 µm. After infecting ducklings with R. anatipestifer, the hosts exhibited pathological changes, such as bacterial meningitis, fibrinous pericarditis, and fibrinous peripheral hepatitis. The pathogenesis of meningitis caused by R. anatipestifer has not yet been elucidated. To investigate the key molecules or proteins involved in R. anatipestifer's penetration of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the subsequent development of duck meningitis, a duck meningitis model was established and characterized. Duckling brain tissues were collected and analyzed using 4D label-free proteomic technology. Differentially expressed proteins were analyzed using a series of bioinformatics methods and verified using RT-qPCR and Western-Blot. The results showed that the differentially expressed proteins were primarily related to intracellular transport, transport protein activity, and transmembrane transport protein activity, and were mainly enriched in pathways associated with reducing intercellular connections and adhesion and increasing cell migration and apoptosis. Thus, it is suggested that R. anatipestifer may penetrate the BBB via transcellular and paracellular pathways, causing neurological diseases such as meningitis. This study is the first to analyze R. anatipestifer-infected duckling brain tissue using proteomics, thus providing a direction for further research into the mechanisms of R. anatipestifer's penetration of the BBB.

Optimization of boronic ester-based amphiphilic copolymers for ROS-responsive drug delivery.

This study introduces boronic ester-based ROS-responsive amphiphilic copolymers for antioxidant drug delivery. Tuning the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance optimized the size, curcumin encapsulation, ROS-triggered release, cellular uptake, and intracellular ROS scavenging. The lead P1b formulation self-assembled into stable 10 nm micelles enabling rapid ROS-triggered curcumin release and preferential cellular internalization. P1b eliminated over 90% of pathogenic intracellular ROS within 10 minutes, demonstrating a rapid antioxidant therapy.

Identification and analysis of UGT genes associated with triterpenoid saponin in soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi Gaertn.).

BACKGROUND: Soapberry (Sapindus mukorossi) is an economically important multifunctional tree species. Triterpenoid saponins have many functions in soapberry. However, the types of uridine diphosphate (UDP) glucosyltransferases (UGTs) involved in the synthesis of triterpenoid saponins in soapberry have not been clarified. RESULTS: In this study, 42 SmUGTs were identified in soapberry, which were unevenly distributed on 12 chromosomes and had sequence lengths of 450 bp to 1638 bp, with an average of 1388 bp. The number of amino acids in SmUGTs was 149 to 545, with an average of 462. Most SmUGTs were acidic and hydrophilic unstable proteins, and their secondary structures were mainly α-helices and random coils. All had conserved UDPGT and PSPG-box domains. Phylogenetic analysis divided them into four subclasses, which glycosylated different carbon atoms. Prediction of cis-acting elements suggested roles of SmUGTs in plant development and responses to environmental stresses. The expression patterns of SmUGTs differed according to the developmental stage of fruits, as determined by transcriptomics and RT-qPCR. Co-expression network analysis of SmUGTs and related genes/transcription factors in the triterpenoid saponin synthesis pathway was also performed. The results indicated potential roles for many transcription factors, such as SmERFs, SmGATAs and SmMYBs. A correlation analysis showed that 42 SmUGTs were crucial in saponin synthesis in soapberry. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest optimal targets for manipulating glycosylation in soapberry triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis; they also provide a theoretical foundation for further evaluation of the functions of SmUGTs and analyses of their biosynthetic mechanisms.

Invariant Content Representation for Generalizable Medical Image Segmentation.

Domain generalization (DG) for medical image segmentation due to privacy preservation prefers learning from a single-source domain and expects good robustness on unseen target domains. To achieve this goal, previous methods mainly use data augmentation to expand the distribution of samples and learn invariant content from them. However, most of these methods commonly perform global augmentation, leading to limited augmented sample diversity. In addition, the style of the augmented image is more scattered than the source domain, which may cause the model to overfit the style of the source domain. To address the above issues, we propose an invariant content representation network (ICRN) to enhance the learning of invariant content and suppress the learning of variability styles. Specifically, we first design a gamma correction-based local style augmentation (LSA) to expand the distribution of samples by augmenting foreground and background styles, respectively. Then, based on the augmented samples, we introduce invariant content learning (ICL) to learn generalizable invariant content from both augmented and source-domain samples. Finally, we design domain-specific batch normalization (DSBN) based style adversarial learning (SAL) to suppress the learning of preferences for source-domain styles. Experimental results show that our proposed method improves by 8.74% and 11.33% in overall dice coefficient (Dice) and reduces 15.88 mm and 3.87 mm in overall average surface distance (ASD) on two publicly available cross-domain datasets, Fundus and Prostate, compared to the state-of-the-art DG methods. The code is available at https://github.com/ZMC-IIIM/ICRN-DG .

Sirolimus is effective for refractory/relapsed idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease: A single-center, retrospective study.

Refractory/relapsed idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (R/R iMCD) has limited treatment options. With studies showing increased mTOR activation in iMCD patients, sirolimus becomes an attractive and promising therapy for R/R iMCD. Here we report the results of a retrospective study involving 26 R/R iMCD patients treated with sirolimus-containing regimen. The median age at sirolimus initiation was 40.5 years (23-60), with a median prior treatment line of 2 (1-5). 18 patients (69.2%) achieved symptomatic and biochemical response, with a median time to at least overall partial remission of 1.9 months (0.5-14.6). The median follow-up time from sirolimus initiation was 11.7 months (1.6-50.7) and the median time to next treatment (TTNT) was 46.2 months. No patients died at the end of follow-up. Most of the patients in the cohort are in ongoing responses and continue sirolimus therapy. Sirolimus is well tolerated with minor adverse effects. In conclusion, sirolimus is effective for R/R iMCD patients with good tolerance.

The Liquid-Fermentation Formulation of Sanghuangporus sanghuang Optimized by Response Surface Methodology and Evaluation of Biological Activity of Extracellular Polysaccharides.

Sanghuangporus sanghuang is a rare fungus growing on mulberry trees that has immense medicinal value. This study aimed to optimize the liquid-fermentation-media formulation and culture conditions for large-scale culturing of S. sanghuang by performing one-way testing and response surface methodology. The antioxidant and anticancer activities of the extracellular polysaccharides from S. sanghuang were also analyzed. The optimal formulation and growth conditions for S. sanghuang were as follows: glucose, 30.2 ± 0.37 g/L; yeast extract, 14.60 ± 0.05 g/L; dandelion powder, 1.24 ± 0.01 g/L; shaker speed, 150 r/min; and temperature, 25 °C. We obtained 13.99 ± 0.42 g/L of mycelium biomass by culturing S. sanghuang for 15 days with the optimized formulation. This was 2-fold higher than the mycelial mass obtained with the sub-optimal formulation. The extracellular fungal polysaccharides showed significant antioxidant activity against ABTS and DPPH free radicals, and significantly reduced the in vitro growth and survival of several cancer cell lines. The anticancer activity of the extracellular fungal polysaccharides was significantly higher in the human glioma cells than in other cancer cell lines. In summary, this study optimized the liquid media formulation and conditions for the large-scale culturing of S. sanghuang. Furthermore, the extracellular polysaccharides from S. sanghuang showed significant antioxidant and anticancer activities.

A prospective study of zanubrutinib, a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, in relapsed/refractory idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease.

Relapsed and refractory (R/R) idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is a clinical challenge with no standard treatment. In this preliminary clinical trial, we investigated the efficacy and safety profiles of a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor (BTKi), zanubrutinib, in patients with R/R iMCD. The primary endpoint was the overall response rate at Week 12 according to the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) response criteria. The trial was terminated early due to a lack of treatment response in the first enrolled 5 patients. Although 3 patients achieved symptomatic response, none of the 5 patients had an overall response by Week 12. One patient had progressive disease and the other 4 had stable disease. The study drug was well tolerated without grade 2 or higher adverse events. Our findings suggest that BTKi therapy is not effective for iMCD, and further attempts at single-agent therapy with zanubrutinib or other BTKis for iMCD should be considered with caution and probably avoided. This trial was registered at www.clinialtrials.gov as #NCT04743687.

Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD)-idiopathic plasmacytic lymphadenopathy: A distinct subtype of iMCD-not otherwise specified with different clinical features and better survival.

Idiopathic multicentric Castleman disease (iMCD) is subclassified into iMCD-thrombocytopenia, anasarca, reticulin fibrosis, renal dysfunction, organomegaly (TAFRO) and iMCD-not otherwise specified (NOS) according to the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN) consensus criteria. With a deeper understanding of iMCD, a group of patients with iMCD-NOS characterised by polyclonal hypergammaglobulinaemia, plasmacytic/mixed-type lymph node histopathology and thrombocytosis has attracted attention. This group of patients has been previously described as having idiopathic plasmacytic lymphadenopathy (IPL). Whether these patients should be excluded from the current classification system lacks sufficient evidence. This retrospective analysis of 228 patients with iMCD-NOS identified 103 (45.2%) patients with iMCD-IPL. The clinical features and outcomes of patients with iMCD-IPL and iMCD-NOS without IPL were compared. Patients with iMCD-IPL showed a significantly higher inflammatory state but longer overall survival. No significant difference in overall survival was observed between severe and non-severe patients in the iMCD-IPL group according to the CDCN severity classification. Compared with lymphoma-like treatments, multiple myeloma-like and IL-6-blocking treatment approaches in the iMCD-IPL group resulted in significantly higher response rates and longer time to the next treatment. These findings highlight the particularities of iMCD-IPL and suggest that it should be considered a new subtype of iMCD-NOS.

Self-Report Amphiphilic Polymer-Based Drug Delivery System with ROS-Triggered Drug Release for Osteoarthritis Therapy.

The development of drug delivery systems with real-time cargo release monitoring capabilities is imperative for optimizing nanomedicine performance. Herein, we report an innovative self-reporting drug delivery platform based on a ROS-responsive random copolymer (P1) capable of visualizing cargo release kinetics via the activation of an integrated fluorophore. P1 was synthesized by copolymerization of pinacol boronate, PEG, and naphthalimide monomers to impart ROS-sensitivity, hydrophilicity, and fluorescence signaling, respectively. Detailed characterization verified that P1 self-assembles into 11 nm micelles with 10 µg mL-1 CMC and can encapsulate hydrophobic curcumin with 79% efficiency. Fluorescence assays demonstrated H2O2-triggered disassembly and curcumin release with concurrent polymer fluorescence turn-on. Both in vitro and in vivo studies validated the real-time visualization of drug release and ROS scavenging, as well as the therapeutic effect on osteoarthritis (OA). Overall, this nanotheranostic polymeric micelle system enables quantitative monitoring of drug release kinetics for enhanced treatment optimization across oxidative stress-related diseases.

Treatment Response Assessment in Multiple Myeloma: Histogram Analysis of Total Tumor Apparent Diffusion Coefficient based on Whole-body Diffusion-weighted MR Imaging.

BACKGROUND: The International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) consensus criteria for response assessment in multiple myeloma (MM) has methodological limitations. Whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram analysis may be complementary to response assessment of MM. PURPOSE: To explore the role of histogram analysis of the ADC based on the total tumor volume (ttADC) in response assessment in patients with newly diagnosed MM (NDMM). STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. POPULATION: Thirty-six patients with NDMM. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3.0T/single-shot DWI echo planar imaging (EPI) sequence with an integrated slice-by-slice shimming (iShim) technique. ASSESSMENT: Baseline (median: 1 day before treatment) and post-treatment (median: five cycles of therapy) whole-body DWI were analyzed. A region of interest (ROI) containing lesions on every section of baseline image was drawn to derive the per-patient total tumor data. Post-treatment image analysis was based on the same ROI as the corresponding baseline. Histogram metrics were extracted from both ROIs. Patients were categorized into the very good partial response or better (VGPR+) group and the less than VGPR group per the IMWG response criteria for response assessment. Progression-free survival (PFS) was also calculated. STATISTICAL TESTS: Mann-Whitney test and Fisher's exact or Chi-squared tests, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and DeLong test, Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards model. A two-tailed P-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Thirty patients were categorized into the VGPR+ group and six into the less than VGPR group. The ttADC histogram changes between post-treatment and baseline metrics (ΔttADC) revealed significant differences in all percentile values between the VGPR+ and less than VGPR groups. For distinguishing VGPR+, ΔttADC_5th percentile had the largest area under the curve (AUC) (0.950, 95% CI 0.821-0.995). Patients with lower ΔttADC_5th percentile values (cutoff point, 188.193) showed significantly longer PFS (HR = 34.911, 95% CI 6.392-190.677). DATA CONCLUSION: ttADC histogram may facilitate response assessment in patients with NDMM. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 4.

Self-calibrating dual-sensing electrochemical sensors for accurate detection of carbon dioxide in blood.

A paper-based electrochemical dual-function biosensor capable of determining pH and TCO2 was synthesized for the first time using an iridium oxide pH electrode and an all-solid-state ion electrode (ASIE). In the study, to obtain highly reliable results, the biosensor was equipped with a real-time pH correction function before TCO2 measurements. Compared to traditional liquid-filling carbon dioxide detection sensors, the utilization of ferrocene endows our novel sensor with abundant positive sites, and thus greatly improves its performance. Conversely, the introduction of MXene with conductivity close to that of metals reduces electrode resistance, which is beneficial for accelerating the electrochemical reaction of the sensor and reducing LOD. After optimization, the detection range of TCO2 is 0.095 nM-0.66 M, with a detection limit of as low as 0.023 nM. In addition, the sensor was used in real serum sample-spiked recovery experiments and comparison experiments with existing clinical blood gas analyzers, which confirmed the effectiveness of its clinical application. This study provides a method for the rational design of paper-based electrochemical biosensors and a new approach for the clinical detection of blood carbon dioxide.

First detection of cutavirus DNA in stools of patients with rheumatic diseases in Guangzhou, China.

Cutavirus (CuV) is a novel protoparvovirus possibly associated with diarrhea and cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. Patients with rheumatic disease are immunosuppressed and may be more vulnerable to pathogenic viruses. A descriptive study was conducted among hospitalized patients with rheumatic diseases and individuals undergoing medical health check-ups between June 2019 and June 2022 in Guangzhou, China. Stool samples of subjects were tested for CuV DNA. Demographic and fecal examination data of patients were obtained from electronic medical records. A total of 505 patients with rheumatic diseases and 244 individuals who underwent medical health check-ups were included in the study. Of the patients with rheumatic disease, 5.74% [95% confidence interval (CI): 4.03%-8.12%] were positive for CuV DNA, while no individual in the medical health check-up group was positive, indicating a close correlation between CuV and rheumatic disease. Men and patients with rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, according to the disease classification, were more susceptible to being infected with CuV (P â€‹< â€‹0.01). After adjustments, being male remained the only significant factor, with an adjusted odd ratio (OR) of 4.4 (95% CI: 1.7-11.4, P â€‹= â€‹0.002). Phylogenetic analysis of the CuV VP2 sequences showed three diverse clades, one of which was segregated to be a single branching independent of previously known sequences, which is possible a new genotype.

Drivers and mechanisms of spontaneous plant community succession in abandoned PbZn mining areas in Yunnan, China.

The drivers and mechanisms underlying succession and the spontaneous formation of plant communities in mining wasteland remain largely unknown. This study investigated the use of nature-based restoration to facilitate the recovery of viable plant communities in mining wasteland. It was found that scientific analyses of spontaneously formed plant communities in abandoned mining areas can provide insights for nature-based restoration. A chronosequence ("space for time") approach was used to establish sites representing three successional periods with six successional stages, and 90 quadrats were constructed to investigate changes in plant species and functional diversity during succession in abandoned PbZn mining areas. A total of 140 soil samples were collected to identify changes in soil properties, including plant nutrient and heavy metal concentrations. Then, this paper used structural equation models to analyze the mechanisms that drive succession. It was found that the functional diversity of plant communities fluctuated substantially during succession. Species had similar functional traits in early and mid-succession, but traits tended to diverge during late succession. Soil bulk density and soil organic matter gradually increased during succession. Total nitrogen (N), pH, and soil Zn concentrations first increased and then decreased during succession. Concentrations of Mn and Cd gradually decreased during succession. During early succession, soil organic matter was the key factor driving plant colonization and succession. During mid-succession, soil Zn functioned as an environmental filter factor limiting the rates of succession in mining wasteland communities. During late succession, soil bulk density and competition for nutrient resources contributed to more balanced differentiation among plant species. This thesis proposed that a nature-based strategy for the stabilization of abandoned mining lands could facilitate effective plant community restoration that promotes ecosystem services and functioning.