Maternal vitamin D status and risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in twin pregnancies: a longitudinal twin pregnancies birth cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a common complication of pregnancy, with significant short-term and long-term implications for both mothers and their offspring. Previous studies have indicated the potential benefits of vitamin D in reducing the risk of GDM, yet little is known about this association in twin pregnancies. This study aimed to investigate maternal vitamin D status in the second trimester and examine its association with the risk of GDM in twin pregnancies. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study based on data from the Chongqing Longitudinal Twin Study (LoTiS). Peripheral blood serum was collected from the mothers in the second trimester to measure 25(OH)D concentrations. GDM was diagnosed at 23-26 weeks of gestation using a 75-g 2-h oral glucose tolerance test. We used multivariable logistic regression analyses to examine the correlations between vitamin D status and the risk of GDM. RESULTS: Of the total participants, 93 (29.9%) women were diagnosed with GDM. The mean serum 25(OH)D concentration in the second trimester was 31.1 ± 11.2 ng/mL, and the rate of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were 23.5% and 18.7%, respectively. Compared to women with a 25(OH)D concentration < 30 ng/mL, those with a 25(OH)D concentration ≥ 30 ng/mL had a significantly lower risk of GDM (RR 0.61; 95% CI: 0.43, 0.86), especially those who were overweight before pregnancy (RR 0.32; 95% CI: 0.16, 0.64). The restricted cubic splines model showed an inverted J-shaped relationship between vitamin D concentrations and GDM risk. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of GDM was significantly reduced in twin pregnant women with vitamin D concentrations ≥ 30 ng/mL in the second trimester. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR-OOC-16,008,203. Retrospectively registered on 1 April 2016.

Causal relationship between gestational diabetes and preeclampsia: A bidirectional mendelian randomization analysis.

AIMS: The study aimed to explore the potential causal link between gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and preeclampsia (PE) using a bidirectional mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. MATERIALS: We conducted a bidirectional MR analysis to investigate the causal relationship between GDM and PE. Data from public genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for GDM and PE were obtained from the FinnGen consortium. Various MR methods were employed, including inverse-variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, and sensitivity analyses. Additionally, a knowledge-based approach identified genes underlying this potential connection. RESULTS: The IVW method revealed a lack of significant association between GDM and PE (OR: 1.04, 95 % CI: 0.96-1.14; p = 0.275). Conversely, IVW analysis indicated a causal connection from PE to GDM (OR: 1.14, 95 % CI: 1.06-1.23; p < 0.001). Molecular pathway analysis identified 20 key genes, including ASAP2, central to the PE-GDM relationship. Tissue enrichment analysis showed pertinent gene expression in significant tissues. Moreover, lower ASAP2 expression was detected in PE patients' placentas. CONCLUSIONS: Our bidirectional MR analysis offers evidence supporting a causal link between PE and GDM, elucidating their interconnected pathogenesis. Genetic and knowledge-based insights facilitate a deeper comprehension of these complex pregnancy complications.

Causal relationship between iron status and preeclampsia-eclampsia: a Mendelian randomization analysis.

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia/eclampsia is a severe pregnancy-related disorder associated with hypertension and organ damage. While observational studies have suggested a link between maternal iron status and preeclampsia/eclampsia, the causal relationship remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic causality between iron status and preeclampsia/eclampsia using large-scale genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary data and Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. METHODS: Summary data for the GWAS on preeclampsia/eclampsia and genetic markers related to iron status were obtained from the FinnGen Consortium and the IEU genetic databases. The "TwoSampleMR" software package in R was employed to test the genetic causality between these markers and preeclampsia/eclampsia. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) method was primarily used for MR analysis. Heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, and potential outliers were evaluated for the MR analysis results. RESULTS: The random-effects IVW results showed that ferritin (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: .89-1.38, p = .341), serum iron (OR = .90, 95% CI: .75-1.09, p = .275), TIBC (OR = .98, 95% CI: .89-1.07, p = .613), and TSAT (OR = .94, 95% CI: .83-1.07, p = .354) have no genetic causal relationship with preeclampsia/eclampsia. There was no evidence of heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy, or possible outliers in our MR analysis (p > .05). CONCLUSIONS: Our study did not detect a genetic causal relationship between iron status and preeclampsia/eclampsia. Nonetheless, this does not rule out a relationship between the two at other mechanistic levels.

Refined preferences of prioritizers improve intelligent diagnosis for Mendelian diseases.

Phenotype-guided gene prioritizers have proved a highly efficient approach to identifying causal genes for Mendelian diseases. In our previous study, we preliminarily evaluated the performance of ten prioritizers. However, all the selected software was run based on default settings and singleton mode. With a large-scale family dataset from Deciphering Developmental Disorders (DDD) project (N = 305) and an in-house trio cohort (N = 152), the four optimal performers in our prior study including Exomiser, PhenIX, AMELIE, and LIRCIAL were further assessed through parameter optimization and/or the utilization of trio mode. The in-depth assessment revealed high diagnostic yields of the four prioritizers with refined preferences, each alone or together: (1) 83.3-91.8% of the causal genes were presented among the first ten candidates in the final ranking lists of the four tools; (2) Over 97.7% of the causal genes were successfully captured within the top 50 by either of the four software. Exomiser did best in directly hitting the target (ranking the causal gene at the very top) while LIRICAL displayed a predominant overall detection capability. Besides, cases affected by low-penetrance and high-frequency pathogenic variants were found misjudged during the automated prioritization process. The discovery of the limitations shed light on the specific directions of future enhancement for causal-gene ranking tools.

Clinical efficacy and risk factors for suction curettage and hysteroscopy in patients with type I and II cesarean scar pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy and evaluate risk factors for suction curettage (SC) and hysteroscopy in the treatment of type I and II cesarean scar pregnancy (CSP). METHODS: This was a retrospective study including 100 women diagnosed with type I/II CSP. Patients were treated with either ultrasound-guided SC (SC group) or hysteroscopy resection (surgery group). The success rates, mean operation time, hospitalization duration, hospitalization cost, risk factors, adverse events, and complications were analyzed. RESULTS: The success rate of the SC and surgery groups were 85% and 100%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.032). There was one case of type I CSP and eight cases of type II CSP that failed SC treatment. No failed cases were found in the surgery group. Analysis of the causes of treatment failure revealed that diameter of the gestational sac was a risk factor for SC failure (odds ratio, 19.66 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.70-227.72], P = 0.017). Comparing the clinical outcomes between the SC and surgery groups, although the mean operation time of the SC group was significantly shorter than the surgery group (15 [CI, 15-20] vs. 30 [CI, 27-40], P = 0.001), the cost and duration of hospitalization were significantly lower in the surgery group than that in the SC group. No significant differences were observed for adverse events and complications between the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Hysteroscopy is an effective and economical method for treating type I/II CSP. Moreover, SC is not recommended for patients with type I/II CSP with a gestation age ≥8 weeks.

Development and validation of a prediction model on spontaneous preterm birth in twin pregnancy: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to develop and validate an individualized prediction model for spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) in twin pregnancies. METHODS: This a retrospective cohort study included 3845 patients who gave birth at the Chongqing Maternal and Child Health Hospital from January 2017 to December 2022. Both univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to find factors associated with sPTB. The associations were estimated using the odds ratio (OR) and the 95% confidence interval (CI). Model performance was estimated using sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and decision curve analysis (DCA). RESULTS: A total of 1313 and 564 cases were included in the training and testing sets, respectively. In the training set, univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that age ≥ 35 years (OR, 2.28; 95% CI 1.67-3.13), pre-pregnancy underweight (OR, 2.36; 95% CI 1.60-3.47), pre-pregnancy overweight (OR, 1.67; 95% CI 1.09-2.56), and obesity (OR, 10.45; 95% CI, 3.91-27.87), nulliparity (OR, 0.58; 95% CI 0.41-0.82), pre-pregnancy diabetes (OR, 5.81; 95% CI 3.24-10.39), pre-pregnancy hypertension (OR, 2.79; 95% CI 1.44-5.41), and cervical incompetence (OR, 5.12; 95% CI 3.08-8.48) are independent risk factors for sPTB in twin pregnancies. The AUC of the training and validation set was 0.71 (95% CI 0.68-0.74) and 0.68 (95% CI 0.64-0.73), respectively. And then we integrated those risk factors to construct the nomogram. CONCLUSIONS: The nomogram developed for predicting the risk of sPTB in pregnant women with twins demonstrated good performance. The prediction nomogram serves as a practical tool by including all necessary predictors that are readily accessible to practitioners.

Primary urachal leiomyosarcoma: a case report and literature review of clinical, pathological, and medical imaging features.

Background: Urachal tumors are exceedingly rare, and adenocarcinoma is the most common malignant urachal neoplasm. Here, an especially rare patient of primary urachal leiomyosarcoma from our hospital was reported, and only five patients have been reported thus far since 1981. Case description: A 24-year-old man was admitted due to urinary tract symptoms. Both urogenital ultrasonography and contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed a mass at the dome of the urinary bladder. Laparoscopic surgical resection was performed, and histopathologic examination of the mass confirmed the diagnosis of urachal leiomyosarcoma. No recurrence was noted after one and a half years. Conclusions: Because the leiomyosarcoma located in the extraperitoneal space of Retzius and may manifest with nonspecific abdominal or urinary symptoms, early and definitive preoperative diagnosis is challenging. Partial cystectomy with complete excision of the urachus is recommended. Because only a few patients have been recorded, clinical outcomes and recurrence risks are difficult to assess.

Gene Expression, Enzyme Activity, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Yield of Rice Affected by Controlled-Release Nitrogen.

Controlled- or slow-release urea can improve crop nitrogen use efficiencies and yields in many agricultural production systems. The effect of controlled-release urea on the relationships between levels of gene expression and yields has not been adequately researched. We conducted a 2 year field study with direct-seeded rice, which included treatments of controlled-release urea at four rates (120, 180, 240, and 360 kg N ha-1), a standard urea treatment (360 kg N ha-1), and a control treatment without applied nitrogen. Controlled-release urea improved the inorganic nitrogen concentrations of root-zone soil and water, functional enzyme activities, protein contents, grain yields, and nitrogen use efficiencies. Controlled-release urea also improved the gene expressions of nitrate reductase [NAD(P)H] (EC 1.7.1.2), glutamine synthetase (EC 6.3.1.2), and glutamate synthase (EC 1.4.1.14). With the exception of glutamate synthase activity, there were significant correlations among these indices. The results showed that controlled-release urea improved the content of inorganic nitrogen within the rice root zone. Compared with urea, the average enzyme activity of controlled-release urea increased by 50-200%, and the relative gene expression was increased by 3-4 times on average. The added soil nitrogen increased the level of gene expression, allowing enhanced synthesis of enzymes and proteins for nitrogen absorption and use. Hence, controlled-release urea improved the nitrogen use efficiency and the grain yield of rice. Controlled-release urea is an ideal nitrogen fertilizer showing great potential for improving rice production.

Transitioning through adversity: Maternal experiences and post-traumatic growth in the context of infants diagnosed with esophageal atresia - A comprehensive qualitative study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to elucidate the experiences and growth trajectories of mothers who have infants with esophageal atresia, which would contribute to our understanding of their unique nursing care requirements and support the development of personalized nursing care strategies and interventions for these critically ill infants. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study used a qualitative descriptive approach including face to face interviews with semi-structured questions. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. RESULTS: Eight mothers were interviewed between November 2021 to January 2022. The mothers described two categories of care experiences: "grief" and "post-traumatic growth". Subcategories included "beginning of chaos", "facing reality", "forced mother-infant separation", "deprived life", "deepened self-knowledge", "enhanced perception of social support", and "shift in life priorities". CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicated mother of infants with esophageal atresia experienced grief, and also reported growth. A better understanding of mothers' experience and positive changes may facilitate peditric nursing practice and promote mothers to attain good psychological adaptation to enable them to take good care of their children. APPLICATION TO PRACTICE: Pediatric nurses' insight into the experience of mothers caring for infants with esophageal atresia could facilitate increased physical intimacy and optimized interaction time to understand the unique personality of these infants. Collaborating with mothers could enhance nurses' comprehension of their perspectives, concerns, and needs, and could guide intervention strategies.

Identification of potential prognostic markers for lung adenocarcinoma using comprehensive analysis.

Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is a common malignancy throughout the world with high levels of mortality and morbidity. In the present study, potential biomarkers and treatment targets for LUAD were investigated using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Overall, 4,485 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified (1,857 upregulated and 2,628 downregulated) between tumor and adjacent control tissues. Functional analysis with Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, Gene Set Variation Analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis revealed significant enrichment of the DEGs in pathways related to system development, cell cycle and cell adhesion. Weighted gene co­expression network analysis distinguished ten co­expression modules on inclusion of the clinical profiles of patients with LUAD. Of these, the blue/turquoise modules showed peak association with tumor onset. Analysis of hub modules identified five hub genes, namely ANGPTL7, SLC6A4, PTPRQ, KCNA4 and TEDC2 (also known as C16orf59). Survival analysis revealed associations between hub­gene expression profiles and patient prognosis. Downregulation of SLC6A4 in LUAD tumor tissues was confirmed using immunohistochemistry. Additional assays (Cell Counting Kit­8, colony formation, scratch assay, cell cycle, Transwell invasion assay and cell adhesion assay) revealed that SLC6A4 overexpression inhibited A549 cell growth, invasion and migration. The findings demonstrated that the hub genes could act as treatment targets or new biomarkers for LUAD.

Electro-microenvironment modulated inhibition of endogenous biofilms by piezo implants for ultrasound-localized intestinal perforation disinfection.

Endogenous bacterial infections from damaged gastrointestinal (GI) organs have high potential to cause systemic inflammatory responses and life-threatening sepsis. Current treatments, including systemic antibiotic administration and surgical suturing, are difficult in preventing bacterial translocation and further infection. Here, we report a wireless localized stimulator composed of a piezo implant with high piezoelectric output serving as an anti-infective therapy patch, which aims at modulating the electro-microenvironment of biofilm around GI wounds for effective inhibition of bacterial infection if combined with ultrasound (US) treatment from outside the body. The pulsed charges generated by the piezo implant in response to US stimulation transfer into bacterial biofilms, effectively destroying their macromolecular components (e.g., membrane proteins), disrupting the electron transport chain of biofilms, and inhibiting bacterial proliferation, as proven by experimental studies and theoretical calculations. The piezo implant, in combination with US stimulation, also exhibits successful in vivo anti-infection efficacy in a rat cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model. The proposed strategy, combining piezo implants with controllable US activation, creates a promising pathway for inhibiting endogenous bacterial infection caused by GI perforation.

FMGNN: A Method to Predict Compound-Protein Interaction With Pharmacophore Features and Physicochemical Properties of Amino Acids.

Identifying interactions between compounds and proteins is an essential task in drug discovery. To recommend compounds as new drug candidates, applying the computational approaches has a lower cost than conducting the wet-lab experiments. Machine learning-based methods, especially deep learning-based methods, have advantages in learning complex feature interactions between compounds and proteins. However, deep learning models will over-generalize and lead to the problem of predicting less relevant compound-protein pairs when the compound-protein feature interactions are high-dimensional sparse. This problem can be overcome by learning both low-order and high-order feature interactions. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid model with Factorization Machines and Graph Neural Network called FMGNN to extract the low-order and high-order features, respectively. Then, we design a compound-protein interactions (CPIs) prediction method with pharmacophore features of compound and physicochemical properties of amino acids. The pharmacophore features can ensure that the prediction results much more fit the expectation of biological experiment and the physicochemical properties of amino acids are loaded into the embedding layer to improve the convergence speed and accuracy of protein feature learning. The experimental results on several datasets, especially on an imbalanced large-scale dataset, showed that our proposed method outperforms other existing methods for CPI prediction. The western blot experiment results on wogonin and its candidate target proteins also showed that our proposed method is effective and accurate for finding target proteins. The computer program of implementing the model FMGNN is available at https://github.com/tcygxu2021/FMGNN.

Effects of vibration strength training on lower limb joints in long jumpers / Efeitos do treinamento de força por vibração nas articulações dos membros inferiores dos saltadores em distância / Efectos del entrenamiento de fuerza por vibración en las articulaciones de los miembros inferiores de los saltadores de longitud

ABSTRACT Introduction As a new training method, vibration strength training has been widely used in strength training and mass rehabilitation of foreign athletes. As an auxiliary method of strength training in China, vibration strength has also attracted the attention of professionals. Studies in this area are important to keep up with the latest international theories and techniques of vibration strength training. Objective Study the effects of vibration strength training on the lower limb joints of long jump athletes. Methods A search of recent medical literature was conducted to develop an experimental test method, and mathematical statistics were implemented to analyze this research study with volunteer long jumpers. Results The relative increase in peak torque of the hip and knee joints was greater when compared to the ankle joint. Both showed considerable improvement after the experimental protocol. Conclusion After comparing the vibration force of lower limb joints with the training effect of long jump athletes, some flexor strength training methods can be added, increasing the intensity and the amount of load appropriately so that the lower limb joint extensor and flexor strength level can be coordinated proportionally, aiming to improve the level of strength and motor coordination in athletes. Level of evidence II; Therapeutic studies - investigation of treatment outcomes.

RESUMO Introdução Como um novo método de treinamento, o método de treinamento de força por vibração tem sido amplamente utilizado no treinamento de força e na reabilitação em massa de atletas estrangeiros. Como método auxiliar de treinamento de força na China, a força vibratória também tem atraído a atenção dos profissionais. Estudos nessa área são importantes para acompanhar as mais recentes teorias e técnicas internacionais de treinamento de força por vibração. Objetivo Estudar os efeitos do treinamento de força por vibração nas articulações de membros inferiores de atletas de salto em distância. Métodos Fez-se uma pesquisa na literatura médica recente para desenvolver um método de teste experimental e implementou-se a estatística matemática para analisar este estudo de pesquisa com saltadores em distância voluntários. Resultados O aumento relativo do pico de torque das articulações do quadril e joelho foi maior quando comparado a articulação do tornozelo. Ambos demonstraram melhora considerável após o protocolo experimental. Conclusão Após comparar a força de vibração das articulações dos membros inferiores com o efeito de treinamento de atletas de salto em distância, alguns métodos de treinamento de força de flexor podem ser adicionados, aumentando adequadamente a intensidade e a quantidade de carga, de modo que o extensor da articulação dos membros inferiores e o nível de força de flexor possam ser coordenados proporcionalmente, visando aprimorar o nível de força e de coordenação motora nos atletas. Nível de evidência II; Estudos terapêuticos - investigação dos resultados do tratamento.

RESUMEN Introducción Como nuevo método de entrenamiento, el método de entrenamiento de fuerza por vibración ha sido ampliamente utilizado en el entrenamiento de fuerza y la rehabilitación de masas de los atletas extranjeros. Como método auxiliar de entrenamiento de fuerza en China, la fuerza vibratoria también ha atraído la atención de los profesionales. Los estudios en este ámbito son importantes para mantenerse al día con las últimas teorías y técnicas internacionales de entrenamiento de fuerza por vibración. Objetivo Estudiar los efectos del entrenamiento de fuerza por vibración en las articulaciones de las extremidades inferiores de los atletas de salto de longitud. Métodos Se realizó una búsqueda en la literatura médica reciente para desarrollar un método de prueba experimental y se implementó la estadística matemática para analizar este estudio de investigación con saltadores de longitud voluntarios. Resultados El aumento relativo del par máximo de las articulaciones de la cadera y la rodilla fue mayor en comparación con la articulación del tobillo. Ambos mostraron una mejora considerable tras el protocolo experimental. Conclusión Después de comparar la fuerza de vibración de las articulaciones de los miembros inferiores con el efecto del entrenamiento de los atletas de salto de longitud, se pueden añadir algunos métodos de entrenamiento de la fuerza de los flexores, aumentando adecuadamente la intensidad y la cantidad de carga, de modo que el nivel de fuerza de los extensores de la articulación de los miembros inferiores y el nivel de fuerza de los flexores puedan coordinarse proporcionalmente, con el objetivo de mejorar el nivel de fuerza y la coordinación motora de los atletas. Nivel de evidencia II; Estudios terapéuticos - investigación de los resultados del tratamiento.

Self-Compassion and Authentic-Durable Happiness During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Mediating Role of Meaning of Life and the Moderating Role of COVID-19 Burnout.

Backgrounds and Aims: Self-compassion is important for authentic-durable happiness, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand the potential complexity of effects, this study sought to explore (a) the mediating role of meaning of life in the association between self-compassion and authentic-durable happiness and (b) the moderating role of COVID-19 burnout in the relationship between self-compassion and meaning of life. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional online survey study in China from February 1 to 14, 2021. Online survey questionnaire technique and convenience sampling method were used for data collection. Participants anonymously completed the measures of self-compassion scale short form, COVID-19 burnout scale, meaning in life questionnaire, and subjective authentic-durable happiness scale. The data were examined utilizing Pearson's r correlations and moderated mediation analysis. Results: This study included 1165 Chinese college students (Mage = 19.68 years, SD = 1.37). Self-compassion (M = 3.39, SD = 0.49) was significantly positively associated with authentic-durable happiness (M = 3.82, SD = 0.66) (r = 0.45, p < 0.001), and mediation analyses indicated that meaning of life (M = 4.65, SD = 0.86) partially mediated this association (indirect effect = 0.103, SE = 0.016, 95% CI = [0.073, 0.135]). Moderated mediation analysis further revealed that COVID-19 burnout (M = 1.87, SD = 0.72) buffered the relation between self-compassion and meaning of life (ß = -0.05, p < 0.033). Discussion and Conclusion: Findings of this study shed light on a correlation between self-compassion and authentic-durable happiness. In addition, this study underlines the importance of intervening in COVID-19 burnout among college students and enhancing the meaning of life in order to promote and safeguard authentic-durable happiness in the setting of COVID-19.

Modeling Limited-Stop Bus Corridor Services with Fare Payment Mode Choice and Trip Purpose Consideration.

This paper proposes a novel model for optimizing limited-stop bus corridor services with consideration of varied payment modes and different trip purposes. In the proposed model, the bus dwell time at a stop is dependent on the fare payment modes and the number of passengers getting off and waiting at the stop while those with the similar trip purpose are grouped into one user class. Given an origin-destination (OD) passenger trip matrix and a set of candidate bus lines serving a corridor, the proposed model is to minimize the total social cost that consists of the cost to the bus operator and the cost to the passengers. In the formulation of the optimization problem, a weighting parameter is adopted to balance the operator cost and the passenger cost. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the importance of considering passenger flow impacts on bus (and passenger) travel times in the proposed model. We also investigate effects on the optimal limited-stop services (e.g., short-turn, skip-stop, and express) taking into account the choice of fare payment modes (e.g., on-board fare collection including payment by cash, magnetic strip or smart card, off-board fare collection) and different values of travel time due to passenger trip purposes. It is shown that the off-board payment mode would be more efficient in a high-demand corridor, that more passengers prefer to express and skip-stop services rather than normal regular services in the four collection systems, and that different limited-stop service plans should be used for different periods of the day in response to temporal variation in OD passenger travel patterns. The intellectual merit of this paper is not the seemingly obvious conclusions but that the proposed model can handle the problem of limited-stop bus corridor service design with the consideration of fare payment mode choice and trip purposes.

A Wave-Driven Piezoelectrical Film for Interfacial Steam Generation: Beyond the Limitation of Hydrogel.

Solar interfacial vapor generation based on low evaporation energy requirements is an effective technology to speed up water purification under natural sunlight, offering great potential to alleviate the current global water crisis. The external electric field and hydrogel are two independent methods enabling low-energy water evaporation. However, the complicated external equipment for generating an electric field and the restricted activation area of hydrogels significantly limit their practical application in steam generation. Thus, a piezoelectric fiber membrane is embedded into a highly hydratable light-absorbing poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel for synergistic water activation. The integrated evaporator is capable of continuously converting the wave energy reserved in the ocean into electrical energy, activating the water in the hydrogel. It is found that the activation effect leads to an improvement of over 23% compared to a non-piezoelectric hydrogel evaporator. This work provides an evaporation prototype based on the synergistic water activation of wave-triggered electricity and highly hydratable hydrogel.

Life Satisfaction and Suicidal Ideation Among Chinese College Students During the Recurrent Outbreak of COVID-19: A Moderated Mediation Model.

The present study examined a moderated mediation model between life satisfaction and suicidal ideation among Chinese college students during the recurrent outbreak of COVID-19. Seven hundred and ninety college students participated in the study and completed questionnaires on life satisfaction, suicidal ideation, depression, and gratitude. Findings indicated that (1) Depression played a partial mediating role between life satisfaction and suicidal ideation. Life satisfaction was not only directly affected suicidal ideation, but also indirectly affected suicidal ideation through the mediating effect of college students' depression; (2) Gratitude played a moderating role in the effect of life satisfaction on depression, and the link between life satisfaction and suicide ideation was only significant for those with higher gratitude. This study provides practical implications for the prevention of suicidal behavior among Chinese college students during the recurrent outbreak of COVID-19.

Potential proteomic alteration in the brain of Tg(SOD1*G93A)1Gur mice: A new pathogenesis insight of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains unclear. The recent studies have suggested that the protein abnormalities could play some important roles in ALS because several protein mutations were found in individuals with this disease. However, proteins that are currently known to be associated with ALS only explain the pathogenesis of this disease in a minority of cases, thus, further screening is needed to identify other ALS-related proteins. In this study, we systematically analyzed and compared the brain proteomic alterations between a mouse model of ALS, the Tg(SOD1*G93A)1Gur model, and wild-type mice using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) as well as bioinformatics methods. The results revealed some significant up- and downregulated proteins at the different developmental stages in the ALS-like mice as well as the possibly related cellular components, molecular functions, biological processes, and pathways in the development of ALS. Our results identified some possible proteins that participate in the pathogenesis of ALS as well as the cellular components that are damaged by these proteins, we additionally identified the molecular functions, the biological processes, and the pathways of these proteins as well as the molecules that are associated with these pathways. This study represents an important preliminary investigation of the role of proteomic abnormalities in the pathogenesis of ALS, both in human patients and other animal models. We present some novel findings that may serve as a basis for further investigation of abnormal proteins that are involved in the pathogenesis of ALS.

Coronavirus stress and overeating: the role of anxiety and COVID-19 burnout.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the role of anxiety and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) burnout in the relationship between coronavirus stress and overeating among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Chinese college students (N = 2926; Mage = 19.90, SD = 1.47, range = 18-25 years old; 54.34% female) completed self-reported online questionnaires regarding coronavirus stress, anxiety, COVID-19 burnout, and overeating. RESULTS: Anxiety showed partially indirect effect on the association between coronavirus stress and overeating. COVID-19 burnout exacerbated the indirect pathway between coronavirus stress and overeating via anxiety. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This is the first study, to our knowledge, that examines the underlying mechanisms of the coronavirus stress and overeating behavior association among Chinese college students. The results support several existing theories on stress and problematic eating behaviors and provide practical implications for prevention and intervention programs of overeating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One's response is not arbitrary when confronted with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Previous research has found that individuals with coronavirus stress still be more prone to overeat. We also know from other research that anxiety is the most salient aspect of overeating. However, no research has investigated whether the coronavirus stress of college students is significantly associated with overeating and examine the potential indirect pathway and moderating mechanisms in this association. With the aid of 2926 participants, we found that, coronavirus stress was linked to college students' overeating. We also found that this relationship was partially explained by anxiety. In addition, the association between anxiety and overeating was stronger for those with higher COVID-19 burnout. This study is an important step in unpacking how coronavirus stress relates to overeating of Chinese college students. However, they are limited by the cross-sectional nature of the study, meaning we cannot imply causality. We recommend that further research replicate our findings in people with diagnosed feeding and eating disorders using a longitudinal design.

Melatonin Induces Autophagy in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Mice via Upregulation of SIRT1.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the neurodegenerative disease that leads to the motor dysfunction damaged by both upper and lower motor neurons. The etiology and pathogenesis of ALS hasn't completely been understood yet up to now, the current study suggests that autophagy plays an important role in the development of ALS. Meanwhile, melatonin is found to inhibit the progression of ALS. To this end, this study aimed to investigate the potential relation between melatonin and autophagy in ALS. The in vivo model of ALS was established to investigate the effects of melatonin in ALS. The mRNA expressions were performed to detect by RT-qPCR, and the protein levels were tested by western blot and immunofluorescence histochemistry staining. The inflammatory cytokine was applied to detect by ELISA. The results showed that melatonin dose-dependently reversed the ALS-induced survival time shortened, weight loss and rotating rod latency decrease. The expressions of both SIRT1 and Beclin-1 as well as the ratio of LC3II/LC3I were significantly upregulated in the ALS mice, while melatonin reversed the upregulation of both SIRT1 and Beclin-1 expression and LC3II/LC3I ratio in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, melatonin dose-dependently significantly restored the ALS-induced downregulation of p62. Furthermore, SIRT1 silencing notably reduced the effect of melatonin on Beclin-1, LC3II/LC3I, and p62. Melatonin induced autophagy in the ALS mice via the upregulation of SIRT1. Thus, melatonin might act as a new agent for the treatment of ALS.