Comprehensive pan-cancer analysis: essential role of ABCB family genes in cancer.

Background: The adenosine triphosphate-binding-cassette (ABC) transporter orchestrates the transmembrane transport of diverse substrates with the aid of ATP as an energy source. ABC transporter constitutes a widespread superfamily of transporters prominently present on the cellular membrane of organisms. Advancements in understanding have unveiled additional roles beyond mere intracellular or extracellular transport functions for the ABC protein family, encompassing involvement in DNA repair, protein translation, and gene expression regulation. Yet its role in tumors is still unknown. Methods: This study drew support from multiple databases, including Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA), The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), and employed multidimensional bioinformatics analyses, incorporating online databases and the R-project. Through a comprehensive analysis, we seek to discern transcriptional-level disparities among genes and their consequential impacts on prognosis, tumor microenvironment (TME), stemness score, immune subtypes, clinical characteristics, and drug sensitivity across human cancers. Results: ABC transporter subfamily B (ABCB) family genes exhibited heightened expression across diverse tumors, demonstrating a significant correlation with overall prognosis in pan-cancer contexts. Notably, gene expression levels manifested substantial associations with TME, stemness score, immune subtypes, clinical characteristics, and drug sensitivity in specific cancers, including kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (KIRP), liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC), and pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD). Within this subset, transporter associated with antigen processing 1 (TAP1), TAP2, and ABCB6 emerged as noteworthy oncogenes. Conclusions: The outcomes of this study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the implications of ABCB family genes in tumor progression, offering insights into potential therapeutic targets for cancer. Notably, the identification of ABCB6 as a significant oncogene suggests promising avenues for targeted therapies in KIRP, LIHC, and PAAD.

Red Shift in the Absorption Spectrum of Phototropin LOV1 upon the Formation of a Semiquinone Radical: Reconstructing the Orbital Architecture.

Flavin mononucleotide (FMN) is a ubiquitous blue-light pigment due to its ability to drive one- and two-electron transfer reactions. In both light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domains of phototropin from the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, FMN is noncovalently bound. In the LOV1 cysteine-to-serine mutant (C57S), light-induced electron transfer from a nearby tryptophan occurs, and a transient spin-correlated radical pair (SCRP) is formed. Within this photocycle, nuclear hyperpolarization is created by the solid-state photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) effect. In a side reaction, a stable protonated semiquinone radical (FMNH·) forms undergoing a significant bathochromic shift of the first electronic transition from 445 to 591 nm. The incorporation of phototropin LOV1-C57S into an amorphous trehalose matrix, stabilizing the radical, allows for application of various magnetic resonance experiments at ambient temperatures, which are combined with quantum-chemical calculations. As a result, the bathochromic shift of the first absorption band is explained by lifting the degeneracy of the molecular orbital energy levels for electrons with alpha and beta spins in FMNH· due to the additional electron.

Inhibition of NF-κB and ERK signaling pathways in osteoclasts and M1 macrophage polarization: Mechanistic insights into the anti-osteoporotic effects of Pseudolaric acid B.

Osteoporosis, characterized by bone metabolism disruption leading to gradual bone loss and increased fracture susceptibility, is linked to the excessive activation of osteoclasts. Pseudolaric acid B (PAB), identified as an NF-κB signaling inhibitor crucial for osteoclastogenesis, is explored here for its protective effects in osteoporosis. Noncytotoxic PAB's impact on osteoclast differentiation was assessed through cell viability and osteoclast formation assays, with subsequent testing of osteoclast function via bone resorption assays. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction evaluated PAB's genetic-level impact on osteoclastogenesis. Network pharmacology, western blot, and luciferase reporter gene assays were employed to elucidate PAB's regulatory mechanism. In an in vivo model of osteoporosis induced by ovariectomy (OVX) in mice, micro-CT, H&E staining, and TRAP staining facilitated histomorphometry analysis, while flow cytometry verified macrophage polarization. PAB demonstrated inhibitory effects on osteoclast formation and bone resorption in BMM and RAW264.7 cells, suppressing osteoclast-specific genes. Bioinformatic analysis, western blot, and luciferase assay results indicated PAB's inhibition of IκBα phosphorylation in the NF-κB signaling pathway and ERK in MAPKs, elucidating its mechanism. In vivo experiments confirmed PAB's attenuation of osteoporosis by reducing osteoclast formation in OVX mice. PAB further facilitated macrophage conversion from M1 to M2 and suppressed IL-1ß, TNF-α, and IL-6 synthesis. In conclusion, PAB prevents osteoporosis by inhibiting RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis through NF-κB and ERK signaling pathway suppression, coupled with macrophage polarization. These findings indicate the potential therapeutic role of PAB in osteoporosis.

Effects of simulated microgravity on current generation of electrochemically active bacteria: Insights from case-control study using random positioning machine.

Electrochemically active bacteria (EAB) exhibit promising prospects for space exploration and life support systems. However, the effects of the space environment on EAB are unclear. In this study, the effects of simulated microgravity on the current generation of mixed-culture EAB were illustrated, and the underlying mechanism was elucidated. The results demonstrated that the electrochemical activity of mixed-culture EAB was enhanced, which was mainly due to the enrichment of Geobacter and the increase in EAB biomass. Additionally, the genes and proteins of the biofilm changed obviously under simulated microgravity conditions, including: I) genes related to signal transfer, II) genes related to cell wall synthesis, and III) genes related to riboflavin synthesis. This study first revealed the enrichment in EAB abundance, the increase in EAB biomass, and the promotion of current generation under simulated microgravity.

Genome-wide identification of XTH gene family in Musa acuminata and response analyses of MaXTHs and xyloglucan to low temperature.

Banana (Musa spp.) production is seriously threatened by low temperature (LT) in tropical and subtropical regions. Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase/hydrolases (XTHs) are considered chief enzymes in cell wall remodelling and play a central role in stress responses. However, whether MaXTHs are involved in the low temperature stress tolerance in banana is not clear. Here, the identification and characterization of MaXTHs were carried out, followed by prediction of their cis-acting elements and protein-protein interactions. In addition, candidate MaXTHs involved in banana tolerance to LT were screened through a comparison of their responses to LT between tolerant and sensitive cultivars using RNA-Seq analysis. Moreover, immunofluorescence (IF) labelling was employed to compare changes in the temporal and spatial distribution of different types of xyloglucan components between these two cultivars upon stress. In total, 53 MaXTHs have been identified, and all were predicted to be located in the cell wall, 14 of them also in the cytoplasm. Only 11 MaXTHs have been found to interact with other proteins. Among 16 MaXTHs with LT responsiveness elements, MaXTH26/29/32/35/50 (Group I/II members) and MaXTH7/8 (Group IIIB members) might be involved in banana tolerance to LT stress. IF results suggested that the content of xyloglucan components recognized by CCRC-M87/103/104/106 antibodies might be negatively related to banana chilling tolerance. In conclusion, we have identified the MaXTH gene family and assessed cell wall re-modelling under LT stress. These results will be beneficial for banana breeding against stresses and enrich the cell wall-mediated resistance mechanism in plants to stresses.

Cerebellar Purkinje cell firing promotes conscious recovery from anesthesia state through coordinating neuronal communications with motor cortex.

Background: The neurobiological basis of gaining consciousness from unconscious state induced by anesthetics remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the involvement of the cerebello-thalamus-motor cortical loop mediating consciousness transitions from the loss of consciousness (LOC) induced by an inhalational anesthetic sevoflurane in mice. Methods: The neural tracing and fMRI together with opto-chemogenetic manipulation were used to investigate the potential link among cerebello-thalamus-motor cortical brain regions. The fiber photometry of calcium and neurotransmitters, including glutamate (Glu), γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and norepinephrine (NE), were monitored from the motor cortex (M1) and the 5th lobule of the cerebellar vermis (5Cb) during unconsciousness induced by sevoflurane and gaining consciousness after sevoflurane exposure. Cerebellar Purkinje cells were optogenetically manipulated to investigate their influence on consciousness transitions during and after sevoflurane exposure. Results: Activation of 5Cb Purkinje cells increased the Ca2+ flux in the M1 CaMKIIα+ neurons, but this increment was significantly reduced by inactivation of posterior and parafascicular thalamic nucleus. The 5Cb and M1 exhibited concerted calcium flux, and glutamate and GABA release during transitions from wakefulness, loss of consciousness, burst suppression to conscious recovery. Ca2+ flux and Glu release in the M1, but not in the 5Cb, showed a strong synchronization with the EEG burst suppression, particularly, in the gamma-band range. In contrast, the Glu, GABA and NE release and Ca2+ oscillations were coherent with the EEG gamma band activity only in the 5Cb during the pre-recovery of consciousness period. The optogenetic activation of Purkinje cells during burst suppression significantly facilitated emergence from anesthesia while the optogenetic inhibition prolonged the time to gaining consciousness. Conclusions: Our data indicate that cerebellar neuronal communication integrated with motor cortex through thalamus promotes consciousness recovery from anesthesia which may likely serve as arousal regulation.

The influence of resource-gaining capacity on mate preferences: an eye tracking study.

To investigate whether resource-gaining capacity influences mate preferences, explicit (self-report data) and implicit tasks (eye tracking data) were used to explore whether individuals' resource-gaining capacity influences mate preferences and whether there are sex differences in mate preferences under two different conditions (short-term and long-term strategies). A total of 59 college students completed a questionnaire collecting basic demographic information, the Resource-Gaining Capacity Scale and the two above tasks. The results showed that (1) in the short-term mating, individuals with higher resource-gaining capacity paid more attention to "good parent" than those with lower resource-gaining capacity, while individuals with lower resource-gaining capacity preferred "good provider" than those with higher resource-gaining capacity. (2) In the long-term mating, women valued "good provider" traits more than men, and they paid more attention to "good parent" traits than men in the short-term. In addition, no matter in the short-term or the long-term mating, men placed more value on "good genes" traits than women. (3) Compared with long-term mating, individuals of both sexes had preferences based on "good genes" in short-term mating, while they had preferences based on "good parent" and "good provider" in long-term mating compared with short-term mating. (4) Regarding explicit mate selection, "good parent" traits were most preferred by the participants, while the implicit eye tracking data indicated that participants preferred partners who were "good providers" and had "good genes".

Real-Time Detection of an Undercarriage Based on Receptive Field Blocks and Coordinate Attention.

Currently, aeroplane images captured by camera sensors are characterized by their small size and intricate backgrounds, posing a challenge for existing deep learning algorithms in effectively detecting small targets. This paper incorporates the RFBNet (a coordinate attention mechanism) and the SIOU loss function into the YOLOv5 algorithm to address this issue. The result is developing the model for aeroplane and undercarriage detection. The primary goal is to synergize camera sensors with deep learning algorithms, improving image capture precision. YOLOv5-RSC enhances three aspects: firstly, it introduces the receptive field block based on the backbone network, increasing the size of the receptive field of the feature map, enhancing the connection between shallow and deep feature maps, and further improving the model's utilization of feature information. Secondly, the coordinate attention mechanism is added to the feature fusion network to assist the model in more accurately locating the targets of interest, considering attention in the channel and spatial dimensions. This enhances the model's attention to key information and improves detection precision. Finally, the SIoU bounding box loss function is adopted to address the issue of IoU's insensitivity to scale and increase the speed of model bounding box convergence. Subsequently, the Basler camera experimental platform was constructed for experimental verification. The results demonstrate that the AP values of the YOLOv5-RSC detection model for aeroplane and undercarriage are 92.4% and 80.5%, respectively. The mAP value is 86.4%, which is 2.0%, 5.4%, and 3.7% higher than the original YOLOv5 algorithm, respectively, with a detection speed reaching 89.2 FPS. These findings indicate that the model exhibits high detection precision and speed, providing a valuable reference for aeroplane undercarriage detection.

Development of a Brain-Targeted Nano Drug Delivery System to Enhance the Treatment of Neurodegenerative Effects of Resveratrol.

As the aging population continues to increase, aging-related inflammation, oxidative stress, and neurodegenerative diseases have become serious global health threats. Resveratrol, a star molecule in natural polyphenols, has been widely reported to have physiological activities such as anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotection. However, its poor water solubility, rapid metabolism, low bioavailability and poor targeting ability, which limits its application. Accordingly, a brain-targeted resveratrol liposome (ANG-RES-LIP) was developed to solve these issues. Experimental results showed that ANG-RES-LIP has a uniform size distribution, good biocompatibility, and a drug encapsulation rate of over 90%. Furthermore, in vitro cell experiments showed that the modification of the targeting ligand ANG significantly increased the capability of RES to cross the BBB and neuronal uptake. Compared with free RES, ANG-RES-LIP demonstrated stronger antioxidant activity and the ability to rescue oxidatively damaged cells from apoptosis. Additionally, ANG-RES-LIP showed the ability to repair damaged neuronal mitochondrial membrane potential. In vivo experiments further demonstrated that ANG-RES-LIP improved cognitive function by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation levels in the brains of aging model mice, repairing damaged neurons and glial cells, and increasing brain-derived neurotrophic factor. In summary, this study not only provides a new method for further development and application of resveratrol but also a promising strategy for preventing and treating age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Social Listening for Product Design Requirement Analysis and Segmentation: A Graph Analysis Approach with User Comments Mining.

This study investigates customers' product design requirements through online comments from social media, and quickly translates these needs into product design specifications. First, the exponential discriminative snowball sampling method was proposed to generate a product-related subnetwork. Second, natural language processing (NLP) was utilized to mine user-generated comments, and a Graph SAmple and aggreGatE method was employed to embed the user's node neighborhood information in the network to jointly define a user's persona. Clustering was used for market and product model segmentation. Finally, a deep learning bidirectional long short-term memory with conditional random fields framework was introduced for opinion mining. A comment frequency-invert group frequency indicator was proposed to quantify all user groups' positive and negative opinions for various specifications of different product functions. A case study of smartphone design analysis is presented with data from a large Chinese online community called Baidu Tieba. Eleven layers of social relationships were snowball sampled, with 14,018 users and 30,803 comments. The proposed method produced a more reasonable user group clustering result than the conventional method. With our approach, user groups' dominating likes and dislikes for specifications could be immediately identified, and the similar and different preferences of product features by different user groups were instantly revealed. Managerial and engineering insights were also discussed.

Overexpression of Sirt6 ameliorates sleep deprivation induced-cognitive impairment by modulating glutamatergic neuron function.

Sleep benefits the restoration of energy metabolism and thereby supports neuronal plasticity and cognitive behaviors. Sirt6 is a NAD+-dependent protein deacetylase that has been recognized as an essential regulator of energy metabolism because it modulates various transcriptional regulators and metabolic enzymes. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of Sirt6 on cerebral function after chronic sleep deprivation (CSD). We assigned C57BL/6J mice to control or two CSD groups and subjected them to AAV2/9-CMV-EGFP or AAV2/9-CMV-Sirt6-EGFP infection in the prelimbic cortex (PrL). We then assessed cerebral functional connectivity (FC) using resting-state functional MRI, neuron/astrocyte metabolism using a metabolic kinetics analysis; dendritic spine densities using sparse-labeling; and miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) and action potential (AP) firing rates using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings. In addition, we evaluated cognition via a comprehensive set of behavioral tests. Compared with controls, Sirt6 was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in the PrL after CSD, accompanied by cognitive deficits and decreased FC between the PrL and accumbens nucleus, piriform cortex, motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, olfactory tubercle, insular cortex, and cerebellum. Sirt6 overexpression reversed CSD-induced cognitive impairment and reduced FC. Our analysis of metabolic kinetics using [1-13C] glucose and [2-13C] acetate showed that CSD reduced neuronal Glu4 and GABA2 synthesis, which could be fully restored via forced Sirt6 expression. Furthermore, Sirt6 overexpression reversed CSD-induced decreases in AP firing rates as well as the frequency and amplitude of mEPSCs in PrL pyramidal neurons. These data indicate that Sirt6 can improve cognitive impairment after CSD by regulating the PrL-associated FC network, neuronal glucose metabolism, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. Thus, Sirt6 activation may have potential as a novel strategy for treating sleep disorder-related diseases.

Stabilization of a flavoprotein for solid-state photo-CIDNP MAS NMR at room temperature by embedding in a glassy sugar matrix.

Hyperpolarization via the solid-state photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization (photo-CIDNP) effect can be detected in frozen solutions of electron transfer proteins generating a radical-pair upon illumination. The effect has been observed in various natural photosynthetic reaction centers and in light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) sensing domains incorporating a flavin mononucleotide (FMN) as chromophore. In LOV domains, where a highly conserved cysteine is mutated to a flavin to interrupt its natural photochemistry, a radical-pair is generated by electron transfer from a nearby tryptophan to the photoexcited triplet state of FMN. During the photocycle, both the LOV domain and the chromophore are photochemically degraded, e.g., by the formation of singlet oxygen. This limits the time for collection of hyperpolarized nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data. We show that embedding of the protein into a trehalose sugar glass matrix stabilizes the protein for 13C solid-state photo-CIDNP NMR experiments which can be conducted at room temperature in a powder sample. Additionally, this preparation allows for incorporation of high amounts of protein further boosting the intensity of the detected signals from FMN and tryptophan at natural abundance. Signal assignment is aided by quantum chemical calculations of absolute shieldings. The underlying mechanism for the surprising absorption-only signal pattern is not yet understood. Comparison to calculated isotropic hyperfine couplings imply that the enhancement is not due to the classical radical-pair mechanism (RPM). Analysis of the anisotropic hyperfine couplings associated with solid-state photo-CIDNP mechanisms also show no simple correlation, suggesting a more complex underlying mechanism.

Study on the Overmolding Process of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Poly (Aryl Ether Ketone) (PAEK)/Poly (Ether Ether Ketone) (PEEK) Thermoplastic Composites.

This paper used poly (aryl ether ketone) (PAEK) resin with a low melting temperature to prepare laminate via the compression-molding process for continuous-carbon-fiber-reinforced composites (CCF-PAEK). Then, poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK), or a short-carbon-fiber-reinforced poly (ether ether ketone) (SCF-PEEK) with a high melting temperature, was injected to prepare the overmolding composites. The shear strength of short beams was used to characterize the interface bonding strength of composites. The results showed that the interface properties of the composite were affected by the interface temperature, which was adjusted by mold temperature. PAEK and PEEK formed a better interfacial bonding at higher interface temperatures. The shear strength of the SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beam was 77 MPa when the mold temperature was 220 °C and 85 MPa when the mold temperature was raised to 260 °C. The melting temperature did not significantly affect the shear strength of SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beams. For the melting temperature increasing from 380 °C to 420 °C, the shear strength of the SCF-PEEK/CCF-PAEK short beam ranged from 83 MPa to 87 MPa. The microstructure and failure morphology of the composite was observed using an optical microscope. A molecular dynamics model was established to simulate the adhesion of PAEK and PEEK at different mold temperatures. The interfacial bonding energy and diffusion coefficient agreed with the experimental results.

Dosage effects of organic manure on bacterial community assemblage and phosphorus transformation profiles in greenhouse soil.

Manure is a potential substitute for chemical phosphate fertilizer, especially in intensive agriculture, such as greenhouse farming, but the associations between soil phosphorus (P) availability and the soil microbial community under manure application instead of chemical phosphate fertilizers are still rarely addressed. In this study, a field experiment in greenhouse farming with manure application instead of chemical phosphate fertilizers was established, including five treatments: a control with conventional fertilization and chemical phosphate fertilizer substitution treatments using manure as the sole P resource at 25% (0.25 Po), 50% (0.50 Po), 75% (0.75 Po), and 100% (1.00 Po) of the control. Except for 1.00 Po, all the treatments applied with manure harbored similar levels of available P (AP) as the control. Most of the bacterial taxa involved in P transformation were enriched in manure treatments. Treatments of 0.25 Po and 0.50 Po significantly enhanced bacterial inorganic P (Pi) dissolution capacity, while 0.25 Po decreased bacterial organic P (Po) mineralization capacity. In contrast, the 0.75 Po and 1.00 Po treatments significantly decreased the bacterial Pi dissolution capacity and increased the Po mineralization capacity. Further analysis revealed that the changes in the bacterial community were significantly correlated with soil pH, total carbon (TC), total nitrogen (TN), and AP. These results revealed the dosage effect of the impact of manure on soil P availability and microbial P transformation capacity and emphasized that an appropriate dosage of organic manure is important in practical production.

Prognostic and immune implications of a novel 7-methylguanosine-related microRNA signature in breast invasive carcinoma: from exploration to validation.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to develop and validate a prognostic signature based on 7-methylguanosine-related (M7G-related) miRNAs for predicting prognosis and immune implications in breast invasive carcinoma (BRCA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: M7G-related miRNA data of BRCA were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO)-penalized, univariate, and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to construct the prognostic signature. Furthermore, the predictive validity was verified using Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival risk and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plots. Internal random sampling verification was used to simplify and validate the signature. RT-qPCR was used to quantify the expression level of transcriptional profiles. The independent prognostic role of the risk score was validated using univariate and multivariate regression. Single-sample Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (ssGSEA) was used for functional and immune enrichment analysis. RESULTS: A total of 18 M7G-related miRNAs were identified to construct the prognostic signature in BRCA. The low-risk group exhibited significantly higher overall survival than the high-risk group in the KM survival plot (P < 0.001). The area under the curve (AUC) for 1-, 3-, and 5-year survivals in the ROC curve were 0.737, 0.724, and 0.702, respectively. The survival significance in the training and testing cohorts was confirmed by random sampling verification. The most prominent miRNAs in the signature were the miR-7, miR-139, miR-10b, and miR-4728. Furthermore, immune scores for B, mast, and Th1 cells varied between risk groups. Our research demonstrated that CD52 was the most positively correlated gene with immune cells and functions in BRCA. CONCLUSION: Our study presents a comprehensive and systematic analysis of M7G-related miRNAs to construct a prognostic signature in BRCA. The signature demonstrated excellent prognostic validity, with the risk score as an independent prognostic factor. These results provide critical evidence for further investigation of M7G miRNAs and offer new insights for BRCA patients in the context of effective immunotherapy.

COVID-19 and sarcopenia-related traits: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Emerging evidence suggested that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients were more prone to acute skeletal muscle loss and suffer sequelae, including weakness, arthromyalgia, depression and anxiety. Meanwhile, it was observed that sarcopenia (SP) was associated with susceptibility, hospitalization and severity of COVID-19. However, it is not known whether there is causal relationship between COVID-19 and SP-related traits. Mendelian randomization (MR) was a valid method for inferring causality. Methods: Data was extracted from the COVID-19 Host Genetic Initiative and the UK Biobank without sample overlapping. The MR analysis was performed with inverse variance weighted, weighted median, MR-Egger, RAPS and CAUSE, MR-APSS. Sensitivity analysis was conducted with MR-Egger intercept test, Cochran's Q test, MR-PRESSO to eliminate pleiotropy. Results: There was insufficient result in the MR-APSS method to support a direct causal relationship after the Bonferroni correction. Most other MR results were also nominally consistent with the MR-APSS result. Conclusions: Our study first explored the causal relationship between COVID-19 and SP-related traits, but the result indicated that they may indirectly interact with each other. We highlighted that older people had better absorb enough nutrition and strengthen exercise to directly cope with SP during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Propagation of noninteger cylindrical vector vortex beams in a gradient-index fiber.

The characteristics of two noninteger cylindrical vector vortex beams (NCVVBs) propagating through a radial gradient-index (GRIN) fiber are analyzed on the basis of the generalized Huygens-Fresnel principle. The NCVVBs exhibit periodic and stable transmission characteristics in the radial GRIN fiber. Polarization changes, the presence of spin angular momentum (SAM), and changes in the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of the NCVVBs are observed at the focal plane of the radial GRIN fiber. Spin-orbit interactions of NCVVBs are verified in the radial GRIN fiber for the first time, to the best of our knowledge.

Structure and function of the metagenomic plastic-degrading polyester hydrolase PHL7 bound to its product.

The recently discovered metagenomic-derived polyester hydrolase PHL7 is able to efficiently degrade amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in post-consumer plastic waste. We present the cocrystal structure of this hydrolase with its hydrolysis product terephthalic acid and elucidate the influence of 17 single mutations on the PET-hydrolytic activity and thermal stability of PHL7. The substrate-binding mode of terephthalic acid is similar to that of the thermophilic polyester hydrolase LCC and deviates from the mesophilic IsPETase. The subsite I modifications L93F and Q95Y, derived from LCC, increased the thermal stability, while exchange of H185S, derived from IsPETase, reduced the stability of PHL7. The subsite II residue H130 is suggested to represent an adaptation for high thermal stability, whereas L210 emerged as the main contributor to the observed high PET-hydrolytic activity. Variant L210T showed significantly higher activity, achieving a degradation rate of 20 µm h-1 with amorphous PET films.

CD24-associated ceRNA network reveals prognostic biomarkers in breast carcinoma.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer types which is described as the leading cause of cancer death in women. After competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) hypothesis was proposed, this triple regulatory network has been observed in various cancers, and increasing evidences reveal that ceRNA network plays a significant role in the migration, invasion, proliferation of cancer cells. In the current study, our target is to construct a CD24-associated ceRNA network, and to further identify key prognostic biomarkers in breast cancer. Using the transcriptom profiles from TCGA database, we performed a comprehensive analysis between CD24high tumor samples and CD24low tumor samples, and identified 132 DElncRNAs, 602 DEmRNAs and 26 DEmiRNAs. Through comprehensive analysis, RP1-228H13.5/miR-135a-5p/BEND3 and SIM2 were identified as key CD24-associated biomarkers, which exhibited highly significance with overall survival, immune microenvironment as well as clinical features. To sum up the above, the current study constructed a CD24-associated ceRNA network, and RP1-228H13.5/miR-135a-5p/BEND3 and SIM2 axis worked as a potential therapeutic target and a predictor for BRCA diagnosis and prognosis.

Spin-orbit interactions of a circularly polarized vortex beam in paraxial propagation.

Spin-orbit interactions (SOIs) of circularly polarized beam and circularly polarized vortex beam during paraxial propagation in a radial gradient-index (GRIN) fiber are analyzed using the generalized Huygens-Fresnel principle and the GRIN fiber's ABCD matrix. SAM is only associated with polarized light helicity and OAM is only associated with topological charge m. SAM and OAM do not crosstalk or convert between each other; SOIs did not occur at the GRIN fiber's focal plane. SOIs of partially coherent circularly polarized beam and partially coherent circularly polarized vortex beam in the GRIN fiber are also studied and show the same characteristics as the perfectly polarized beam.