Lipid Dysregulation Induced by Gasoline and Diesel Exhaust Exposure and the Interaction with Age.

Limited knowledge exists regarding gasoline and diesel exhaust effects on lipid metabolism. This study collected gasoline and diesel exhaust under actual driving conditions and conducted inhalation exposure on male young and middle-aged C57BL/6J mice for 4 h/day for 5 days to simulate commuting exposure intensity. Additionally, PM2.5 from actual roadways, representing gasoline and diesel vehicles, was generated for exposure to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and normal liver cells (LO2) for 24, 48, and 72 h to further investigate exhaust particle toxicity. Results showed that diesel exhaust reduced total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in young mice, indicating disrupted lipid metabolism. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels increased by 53.7% and 21.7%, respectively, suggesting potential liver injury. Diesel exhaust exposure decreased superoxide dismutase and increased glutathione peroxidase levels. Cell viability decreased, and reactive oxygen species levels increased in HUVECs and LO2 following exposure to exhaust particles, with dose- and time-dependent effects. Diesel exhaust particles exhibited more severe inhibition of cell proliferation and oxidative damage compared to gasoline exhaust particles. These findings provide novel evidence of the risk of disrupted lipid metabolism due to gasoline and diesel exhaust, emphasizing the toxicity of diesel exhaust.

Spike Analysis of the Neural Activities Across the Rats' Auditory Brain Structures.

Tinnitus is a health condition that affects a large population. Clinical diagnosis and treatment have been developed for treating tinnitus for years. However, there are still limitations because researchers have yet to elucidate the mechanisms underlying how tinnitus neural signals develop in brain structures. Abnormal neural interactions among the brain areas are considered to play an important role in tinnitus generation. Researchers have been studying neural activities in the auditory brain structures, including the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), inferior colliculus (IC), and auditory cortex (AC), to seek a better understanding of the information flow among these brain regions, especially in comparison with both health and tinnitus conditions. In this project, neural activities from the DCN, IC, and AC were collected and analyzed before and after the animals were noise-exposed and before and after their auditory cortices were electrically stimulated. These conditions in rats were used to estimate healthy animals, noise-trauma-induced tinnitus, and after auditory cortex electrical stimulation (ACES) treatment. The signal processing algorithms started with the raw measurement data and focused on the local field potentials (LFPs) and spikes in the time domain. The firing rate, shape of spikes, and time differences among channels were analyzed in the time domain, and phase-phase correlation was used to test the phase-frequency information. All the analysis results were summarized in plots and color-heat maps and also used to identify if any neural signal differs and cross-channel relation changes at various animal conditions and discussed.

Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation Potential from Vehicular Non-tailpipe Emissions under Real-World Driving Conditions.

Traffic emissions are a dominant source of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in urban environments. Though tailpipe exhaust has drawn extensive attention, the impact of non-tailpipe emissions on atmospheric SOA has not been well studied. Here, a closure study was performed combining urban tunnel experiments and dynamometer tests using an oxidation flow reactor in situ photo-oxidation. Results show a significant gap between field and laboratory research; the average SOA formation potential from real-world fleet is 639 ± 156 mg kg fuel-1, higher than the reconstructed result (188 mg kg fuel-1) based on dynamometer tests coupled with fleet composition inside the tunnel. Considering the minimal variation of SOA/CO in emission standards, we also reconstruct CO and find the critical role of high-emitting events in the real-world SOA burden. Different profiles of organic gases are detected inside the tunnel than tailpipe exhaust, such as more abundant C6-C9 aromatics, C11-C16 species, and benzothiazoles, denoting contributions from non-tailpipe emissions to SOA formation. Using these surrogate chemical compounds, we roughly estimate that high-emitting, evaporative emission, and asphalt-related and tire sublimation share 14, 20, and 10% of the SOA budget, respectively, partially explaining the gap between field and laboratory research. These experimental results highlight the importance of non-tailpipe emissions to atmospheric SOA.

Transforming waste brake pads from automobiles into Nano-Catalyst: Synergistic Fe-C-Cu triple sites for efficient fenton-like oxidation of organic pollutants.

The arbitrary disposal of used brake pads from motor vehicles has resulted in severe heavy metal pollution and resource wastage, highlighting the urgent need to explore the significant untapped potential of these discarded materials. In this study, The in-situ growth of highly dispersed Fe2O3 nanocrystals was achieved by simple oxidation annealing of brake pad debris(BPD). Interestingly, Cu remained unoxidized and acted as a "valence state transformation bridge of Fe2O3" to construct the "triple Fe-C-Cu sites". The Fenton degradation experiment of pollutants was conducted under constant temperature conditions at 40 °C, a stirring rate of 1300 rpm, a pH value of 3, a catalyst dosage of 0.5 g/L, pollutant dosage ranging from 50 to 400 mg/L, and H2O2 dosage of 0.25 g/L. Experimental results showed that BPD treated at 300 °C for 2 h exhibited optimal Fenton-like oxidation activity, achieving rapid degradation of over 90 % of refractory antibiotics, such as tetracycline and ciprofloxacin, in organic wastewater within 10 min. This remarkable performance was mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of "Fe-C-Cu triple sites", where the electron-donating role of C in the Fe-C and Cu-C interfaces facilitated the conversion of the Fe(III) to Fe(II) and Cu(II) to Cu(I). In addition, the ability of Cu2+ to accept electrons at the Fe-Cu interface promoted the transition from Fe (II) to Fe (III). This "balance of electron gain and loss" accelerated the interfacial electron transfer and the recycle of dual Fenton sites, Fe(II)/Fe(III) and Cu(I)/Cu(II), to generate more ·OH from H2O2. Therefore, this strategy of functionalizing BPD as Fenton-like catalysts without the addition of external Fe provides intriguing prospects for understanding the construction of Fe-based Fenton catalysts and resource utilization of Fe-containing solid waste materials.

Rapid detection of Salmonella in milk by labeling-free electrochemical immunosensor based on an Fe3O4-ionic liquid-modified electrode.

Electrochemical sensors show distinct advantages over other types of sensors in the rapid detection of microorganisms. Here, we attempted to construct a label-free electrochemical immunosensor based on an Fe3O4-ionic liquid (IL)-modified electrode to rapidly detect Salmonella in milk. The excellent ionic conductivity of the IL facilitated sensor construction, and the large surface area of nano-Fe3O4 provided numerous sites for subsequent experiments. An antibody was fixed on the Fe3O4-IL complex with polyglutamic acid modification by a simple infusion method. The microstructure of the Fe3O4-IL composites was investigated by scanning electron microscopy, and the elements and structures of the composites were analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Under optimized experimental conditions, the detection range of the constructed sensor was 3.65 × 102-3.65 × 108 CFU mL-1, and the LOD was 1.12 × 102 CFU mL-1 (S/N = 3). In addition, the prepared electrochemical immunosensor is convenient for detecting foodborne pathogens because of its outstanding stability, good selectivity, and repeatability.

Chinese Herbal Medicine for the Treatment of Adult Viral Myocarditis: An Overview of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials.

PURPOSE: Viral myocarditis (VMC) is a life-threatening disease that can affect all ages and genders, with middle-aged adults being particularly susceptible. Numerous systematic reviews have been conducted to investigate the efficacy and safety of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) in treating adult viral myocarditis (AVM). The objective of this study was to conduct a comprehensive overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the efficacy and safety of CHM for AVM. METHODS: A comprehensive systematic search was conducted across 8 electronic databases from their inception to June 23, 2022, augmented by manual searches of the gray literature. Systematic reviews were independently selected and data extracted in accordance with predetermined criteria by 2 reviewers. Included systematic reviews were assessed for methodologic and reporting quality using Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The quality of evidence relating to outcome measures was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation tool. Recalculation of effect sizes and subsequent determination of 95% CIs were conducted with either a fixed-effects or random-effects model. FINDINGS: The current overview of systematic reviews included a total of 6 systematic reviews, which reported on 67 RCTs with a participant pool of 5611 individuals. The findings of our study indicate that the combination of CHM and Western medications had positive effects on the effective rate, cure rate, ECG recovery, atrial premature contraction/premature ventricular contraction, left ventricular ejection fraction, myocardial enzymes, and improvement of clinical symptoms for AVM. The adverse drug reactions in the combination therapy group were generally less than or lighter than that in the Western medication group (relative risk = 0.79; 95% CI, 0.44-1.40; P > 0.05, I2 = 0). IMPLICATIONS: Our research results provide evidence that combining CHM with Western medicine could offer potential benefits for patients with AVM. However, the number of studies included in our review is limited and the methodologic quality of these studies is modest. Therefore, there are potential uncertainties regarding the conclusion that CHM with Western medication may benefit patients with AVM. We call for more large-scale, high-quality studies with standardized designs to further verify and support our findings. This would promote a better understanding of the efficacy and safety profile of CHM and provide reliable reference evidence for clinical practice and policy making. Moreover, future research should explore optimal drug combinations, examine therapeutic doses and durations of CHM combination therapy, and evaluate its long-term efficacy and safety.

The change of triglyceride-glucose index may predict incidence of stroke in the general population over 45 years old.

BACKGROUND: Stroke has been found to be highly correlated with the triglyceride-glucose (TyG) index. The relation between the TyG index changes and stroke, however, has seldom been reported, and current researches mentioning the TyG index concentrate on individual values. We aimed to investigate whether the level and the change of TyG index was associated with the incidence of stroke. METHODS: Sociodemographic, medical background, anthropometric and laboratory information were retrospectively collected. Classification was conducted using k-means clustering analysis. Logistic regressions were to determine the relationship between different classes with changes in the TyG index and incidence of stroke, taking the class with the smallest change as a reference. Meanwhile, restricted cubic spline regression was applied to examine the links of cumulative TyG index and stroke. RESULTS: 369 (7.8%) of 4710 participants had a stroke during 3 years. Compared to class 1 with the best control of the TyG Index, the OR for class 2 with good control was 1.427 (95% CI, 1.051-1.938), the OR for class 3 with moderate control was 1.714 (95% CI, 1.245-2.359), the OR for class 4 with worse control was 1.814 (95% CI, 1.257-2.617), and the OR for class 5 with consistently high levels was 2.161 (95% CI, 1.446-3.228). However, after adjusting for multiple factors, only class 3 still had an association with stroke (OR 1.430, 95%CI, 1.022-2.000). The relation between the cumulative TyG index and stroke was linear in restricted cubic spline regression. In subgroup analysis, similar results were shown in participants without diabetes or dyslipidemia. There is neither additive nor multiplicative interaction between TyG index class and covariates. CONCLUSION: A constant higher level with worst control in TyG index indicated a higher risk of stroke.

Exploring the needs and barriers for death education in China: Getting answers from heart transplant recipients' inner experience of death.

Background: Promoting reflection about death may support better living, and how to carry out death education is an important issue to be addressed across the world. The purpose of the current study was to explore the attitude of heart transplant recipients toward death and their inner real experience to provide information for the development of death education strategies. Methods: A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted using a snowball method. A total of 11 patients who had undergone heart transplantation more than 1-year ago were recruited for the current study for semi-structured interviews. Results: A total of five themes were identified: "Not avoid talking about death," "Feeling fear about the pain in the process of death", "Wanting a good death at the end of life," "The richness of feelings during near-death is surprising," and "Being close to death makes people more receptive to death." Conclusion: Heart transplant recipients have a positive attitude toward death and wish for "good death" at the end of life. These patients' near-death experiences and positive attitudes toward death during the course of their illness provided evidence of the need for death education in China and supported the experiential approach to death education.

Facilitation of Behavioral and Cortical Emergence from Isoflurane Anesthesia by GABAergic Neurons in Basal Forebrain.

General anesthesia shares many similarities with natural sleep in behavior and electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns. The latest evidence suggests that general anesthesia and sleep-wake behavior may share overlapping neural substrates. The GABAergic neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) have recently been demonstrated to play a key role in controlling wakefulness. It was hypothesized that BF GABAergic neurons may participate in the regulation of general anesthesia. Here, using in vivo fiber photometry, we found that the activity of BF GABAergic neurons was generally inhibited during isoflurane anesthesia, having obviously decreased during the induction of anesthesia and being gradually restored during the emergence from anesthesia, in Vgat-Cre mice of both sexes. Activation of BF GABAergic neurons with chemogenetic and optogenetic approaches decreased sensitivity to isoflurane, delayed induction, and accelerated emergence from isoflurane anesthesia. Optogenetic activation of BF GABAergic neurons decreased EEG δ power and the burst suppression ratio (BSR) during 0.8% and 1.4% isoflurane anesthesia, respectively. Similar to the effects of activating BF GABAergic cell bodies, photostimulation of BF GABAergic terminals in the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) also strongly promoted cortical activation and behavioral emergence from isoflurane anesthesia. Collectively, these results showed that the GABAergic BF is a key neural substrate for general anesthesia regulation that facilitates behavioral and cortical emergence from general anesthesia via the GABAergic BF-TRN pathway. Our findings may provide a new target for attenuating the depth of anesthesia and accelerating emergence from general anesthesia.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The basal forebrain (BF) is a key brain region controlling sleep-wake behavior. Activation of GABAergic neurons in the BF potently promotes behavioral arousal and cortical activity. Recently, many sleep-wake-related brain structures have been reported to participate in the regulation of general anesthesia. However, it is still unclear what role BF GABAergic neurons play in general anesthesia. In this study, we aim to reveal the role of BF GABAergic neurons in behavioral and cortical emergence from isoflurane anesthesia and elucidate the underlying neural pathways. Understanding the specific role of BF GABAergic neurons in isoflurane anesthesia would improve our understanding of the mechanisms of general anesthesia and may provide a new strategy for accelerating emergence from general anesthesia.

Brake wear-derived particles: Single-particle mass spectral signatures and real-world emissions.

Brake wear is an important but unregulated vehicle-related source of atmospheric particulate matter (PM). The single-particle spectral fingerprints of brake wear particles (BWPs) provide essential information for understanding their formation mechanism and atmospheric contributions. Herein, we obtained the single-particle mass spectra of BWPs by combining a brake dynamometer with an online single particle aerosol mass spectrometer and quantified real-world BWP emissions through a tunnel observation in Tianjin, China. The pure BWPs mainly include three distinct types of particles, namely, Ba-containing particles, mineral particles, and carbon-containing particles, accounting for 44.2%, 43.4%, and 10.3% of the total BWP number concentration, respectively. The diversified mass spectra indicate complex BWP formation pathways, such as mechanical, phase transition, and chemical processes. Notably, the mass spectra of Ba-containing particles are unique, which allows them to serve as an excellent indicator for estimating ambient BWP concentrations. By evaluating this indicator, we find that approximately 4.0% of the PM in the tunnel could be attributable to brake wear; the real-world fleet-average emission factor of 0.28 mg km-1 veh-1 is consistent with the estimation obtained using the receptor model. The results presented herein can be used to inform assessments of the environmental and health impacts of BWPs to formulate effective emissions control policies.

Recombinant Adenovirus siRNA Knocking Down the Ndufs4 Gene Alleviates Myocardial Apoptosis Induced by Oxidative Stress Injury.

Oxidative stress results in myocardial cell apoptosis and even life-threatening heart failure in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Specific blocking of the complex I could reduce cell apoptosis. Ndufs4 is a nuclear-encoded subunit of the mitochondrial complex I and participates in the electron transport chain. In this study, we designed and synthesized siRNA sequences knocking down the rat Ndufs4 gene, constructed recombinant adenovirus Ndufs4 siRNA (Ad-Ndufs4 siRNA), and primarily verified the role of Ndufs4 in oxidative stress injury. The results showed that the adenovirus infection rate was about 90%, and Ndufs4 mRNA and protein were decreased by 76.7% and 64.9%, respectively. Furthermore, the flow cytometry assay indicated that the cell apoptosis rate of the Ndufs4 siRNA group was significantly decreased as compared with the H2O2-treated group. In conclusion, we successfully constructed Ndufs4 siRNA recombinant adenovirus; furthermore, the downexpression of the Ndufs4 gene may alleviate H2O2-induced H9c2 cell apoptosis.

Study on the effect of different concentrations of choline glycine ionic liquid-water mixtures on debranched starch butyrylation reaction.

In this study, the effect of choline glycine ionic liquids on the butyrylation of starch was investigated by the butyrylation of debranched cornstarch in different concentrations of choline glycine ionic liquid-water mixtures (choline glycine ionic liquids to water in mass ratios of 0:10, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, 8:2 and 10:0). The butyryl characteristic peaks in 1H NMR and FTIR of the butyrylated samples indicated the success of butyrylation modification. 1H NMR calculations showed that the most effective mass ratio of choline glycine ionic liquids to water (6:4) increased the butyryl substitution degree from 0.13 to 0.42. X-ray diffraction results showed that the crystalline type of the starch modified in the choline glycine ionic liquid-water mixtures changed from B-type to a mixture of V-type and B-type isomers. The butyrylated starch modified in the ionic liquid increased its own content of resistant starch from 25.42 % to 46.09 %. This study highlights the effect of different concentrations of choline glycine ionic liquid-water mixtures on the promotion of starch butyrylation reactions.

Optical properties of vehicular brown carbon emissions: Road tunnel and chassis dynamometer tests.

Brown carbon (BrC), as an important light-absorbing aerosol, significantly impacts regional and global climate. Vehicle emission is a nonnegligible source of BrC, but the optical properties of BrC emitted from vehicles remain poorly understood. This study evaluates the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) of traffic-related light-absorbing aerosols (i.e., AAETr) and the absorption emission factor (EFabs) of vehicular BrC via chassis dynamometer tests and a road tunnel measurement in Tianjin, China. AAETr are estimated as 0.98-1.33 and 1.11 ± 0.001 for tested vehicles and on-road vehicle fleet, respectively. The AAE of vehicular BrC (AAEBrC) is 3.83 ± 0.092 for on-road vehicle fleet. The vehicle technology updates effectively reduce the EFabs of vehicular BrC. Among the four tested China 5 and China 6 gasoline vehicles in the chassis dynamometer tests, BrC EFabs of China 5 gasoline direct injection vehicle is the highest, while China 6 mixing fuel injection vehicle exhibits the lowest EFabs. The BrC EFabs of on-road vehicle fleet at 370 nm wavelength are 0.081 ± 0.0058 m2 kg-1 for mixed fleet, 0.074 ± 0.018 m2 kg-1 for gasoline vehicles (GVs), and 1.66 ± 0.71 m2 kg-1 for diesel vehicles (DVs) in the tunnel measurement. EFabs of GV fleet in the road tunnel is higher than China 5 and China 6 vehicles, as China 1-4 vehicles accounted for 26.8% of the total vehicle fleet in the tunnel. EFabs of vehicular BrC are lower than those from biomass burning and coal combustion emissions. The light absorption of BrC from GVs and DVs accounts for 7.2 ± 2.1% and 1.5 ± 0.77% of total traffic-related absorption at 370 nm, respectively. Our study provides optical features of BrC from vehicle source and could contribute to estimating the impacts of vehicular aerosol emissions on global and regional climate change.

Reversible detection of Hg(II) in pure water based on thymine modified nitrogen, sulfur co-doped carbon dots combined with antidote.

Conventional Hg2+ visual sensors are unsustainable, hindering their practical application for improved water quality and health. In order to address this challenge, herein, N, S co-doped carbon nanodots (NS-CDs) were prepared and well characterized, presented the fluorescent monitoring for Hg2+ over other metal ions with the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.47 µM. Next, the CDs were successfully modified by thymine without any fluorescence labelling (referred to as T-NS-CDs). The sensitivity to Hg2+ cloud be noticeable enhanced due to the formation of T-Hg2+-T specific base pairs. Accordingly, the LOD was calculated with values as low as 1.56 nM. Furthermore, Hg2+ could be released and complexed with antidote (meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid) (DMSA-Hg2+), being the responsible for the reversible interconversion between T-Hg2+-T and DMSA-Hg2+. Interestingly, the proposed sensing system also applies to the fluorescent sensing for Hg2+ in tap water with satisfactory recoveries (96.97 %-101.38 %, RSD < 2 %). Thus, by simply combination of elemental doping and surface functionalization, the surface state and functionalities of CDs could be tailorable, endowing the fluorometric sensing towards Hg2+ in environmental system.

Contributions of Hearing Loss and Traumatic Brain Injury to Blast-Induced Cortical Parvalbumin Neuron Loss and Auditory Processing Deficits.

Auditory processing disorder is the most common problem affecting veterans after blast exposure, but the distinct impacts of blast-related traumatic brain injury and blast-related hearing loss are unknown. Independently, both hearing loss and blast exposure affect the entire auditory processing pathway at the molecular and physiological levels. Here, we identified distinct changes to the primary auditory cortex (AI) and temporal processing in mice following blast exposure both with and without protected hearing. Our results show that blast-exposure alone activated microglia in AI, but hearing loss was required for reductions in the density of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons. Although blast exposure impaired the temporal following response, these impairments were more severe with concurrent unilateral hearing loss, further resulting in impairments in behavioral gap detection. Taken together, these results indicate that protecting hearing during blast exposure can prevent most impairments to auditory processing but does not fully protect temporal processing.

Tunnel measurements reveal significant reduction in traffic-related light-absorbing aerosol emissions in China.

Light-absorbing aerosols (LAA), including black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC), profoundly impact regional and global climate. Vehicle emission is an important source of LAA in urban areas, but real-world emission features of LAA from the urban vehicle fleet are not fully understood. This study evaluates traffic-related BC and BrC emission factors (EFs) and their vehicular emission inventories via road tunnel measurements in Tianjin, China, in 2017 and 2021. The distance-based and fuel-based EFs of BC for the mixed fleet were 1.05 ± 1.28 mg km-1 veh-1 and 0.057 ± 0.057 g (kg-fuel)-1, respectively, in 2021, with a dramatic decrease of 80.6 % compared to those in 2017. The BC EFs for gasoline vehicles (GVs, including traditional gasoline and hybrid vehicles) and diesel vehicles (DVs) were 0.55 ± 0.065 mg km-1 veh-1 and 10.5 ± 2.52 mg km-1 veh-1, respectively, in 2021. Compared to 2017, the BrC EFs also decreased significantly in 2021, by 10.8-53.6 %, with 0.32 ± 0.45 mg km-1 veh-1 and 0.018 ± 0.020 g (kg-fuel)-1 of distance-based and fuel-based EFs for mixed fleet. The BrC EFs for GVs and DVs were 0.091 ± 0.024 mg km-1 veh-1 and 3.06 ± 0.91 mg km-1 veh-1, respectively, in 2021. Based on the BC and BrC EFs for GVs and DVs and annual mileage for each vehicle category, the annual vehicular LAA emission inventories were estimated. From 2017 to 2021, the annual vehicular LAA emissions in Tianjin have been significantly reduced, by 69 % for BC and 10 % for BrC. DVs account for a small amount of the vehicle population (8.4 %), but contribute to most of the BC (83 %) and BrC (86 %). Our study demonstrates the significant reduction of vehicular light-absorbing aerosols emission due to vehicle pollution prevention and control in China.

The Effect of Fe Content on the Microstructure and Tensile Properties of Friction-Stir-Welded Joints in Recycled Cast Aluminum Alloy.

The presence of the impurity element Fe significantly influences the overall performance of recycled aluminum alloy. This study aims to elucidate the impact of Fe content on the microstructure and tensile properties of friction-stir-welded (FSW) joints in recycled cast A356 aluminum alloy. Three samples with varying Fe content were prepared for FSW joints. The quality of the weld zone was meticulously assessed through macrostructure and microstructure analyses. The tensile strengths of the joints were carefully evaluated and correlated with the microhardness and microstructure of the weld zone. The research findings reveal that, among the three fabricated joints, the one with an Fe content of 0.3 wt.% demonstrates the most favorable tensile performance. This particular joint exhibits the highest tensile strength of 153 MPa, commendable yield strength of 90 MPa, and a favorable elongation of 5.7%. The mechanisms responsible for grain refinement in the weld nugget zone involve plastic deformation and dynamic recrystallization. Significantly, the disruptive effects of friction-stir action on eutectic silicon phases and rich iron phases emerge as crucial factors contributing to the enhanced performance of the weld nugget zone in the welded joint.

The impact factors of social media users' forwarding behavior of COVID-19 vaccine topic: Based on empirical analysis of Chinese Weibo users.

Introduction: Social media, an essential source of public access to information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines, has a significant effect on the transmission of information regarding the COVID-19 vaccines and helps the public gain correct insights into the effectiveness and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. The forwarding behavior of social media users on posts concerned with COVID-19 vaccine topics can rapidly disseminate vaccine information in a short period, which has a significant effect on transmission and helps the public access relevant information. However, the factors of social media users' forwarding posts are still uncertain thus far. In this paper, we investigated the factors of the forwarding COVID-19 vaccines Weibo posts on Chinese social media and verified the correlation between social network characteristics, Weibo textual sentiment characteristics, and post forwarding. Methods: This paper used data mining, machine learning, sentiment analysis, social network analysis, and regression analysis. Using " (COVID-19 vaccine)" as the keyword, we used data mining to crawl 121,834 Weibo posts on Sina Weibo from 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2021. Weibo posts not closely correlated with the topic of the COVID-19 vaccines were filtered out using machine learning. In the end, 3,158 posts were used for data analysis. The proportions of positive sentiment and negative sentiment in the textual of Weibo posts were calculated through sentiment analysis. On that basis, the sentiment characteristics of Weibo posts were determined. The social network characteristics of information transmission on the COVID-19 vaccine topic were determined through social network analysis. The correlation between social network characteristics, sentiment characteristics of the text, and the forwarding volume of posts was verified through regression analysis. Results: The results suggest that there was a significant positive correlation between the degree of posting users in the social network structure and the amount of forwarding. The relationship between the closeness centrality and the forwarding volume was significantly positive. The betweenness centrality was significantly positively correlated with the forwarding volume. There was no significant relationship between the number of posts containing more positive sentiments and the forwarding volume of posts. There was a significant positive correlation between the number of Weibo posts containing more negative sentiments and the forwarding volume. Conclusion: According to the characteristics of users, COVID-19 vaccine posts from opinion leaders, "gatekeepers," and users with high-closeness centrality are more likely to be reposted. Users with these characteristics should be valued for their important role in disseminating information about COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, the sentiment contained in the Weibo post is an important factor influencing the public to forward vaccine posts. Special attention should be paid to the negative sentimental tendency contained in this post on Weibo to mitigate the negative impact of the information epidemic and improve the transmission effect of COVID-19 vaccine information.

Blocking the Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Alleviates Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats.

OBJECTIVE: Restoring the blood perfusion of ischemic heart tissues is the main treatment for myocardial ischemia. However, the accompanying myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) would aggravate myocardial damage. Previous studies have confirmed that aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is closely correlated to kidney and intestinal IRI. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between AhR and myocardial IRI. METHODS: An oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) model of H9c2 cells and an ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) model of Sprague-Dawley rat myocardium were established. OGD/R cells and myocardial IRI rats were treated with different concentrations of the AhR antagonist CH-223191 or agonist 6-formylindolo[3,2-b] carbazole (FICZ). Under the conditions of normoxia and hypoxia/reoxygenation, the activity of cardiomyocytes, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cell reactive oxygen species (ROS) were detected. In rats, myocardial pathological damage and markers of myocardial injury were detected. RESULTS: According to the results of the cell viability, LDH and ROS tests in vitro, both CH-223191 and FICZ showed no myocardial protection under OGD/R conditions. However, the histological staining and analysis of myocardial injury marker LDH in vitro revealed that CH-223191 could significantly reduce the myocardial IRI. CONCLUSION: AhR exhibited a different effect on myocardial IRI in vitro and in vivo. In vivo, CH-223191 could significantly alleviate the myocardial IRI, suggesting that inhibition of AhR may play a role in myocardial protection, and AhR may serve as a potential treatment target for myocardial IRI.

The roles of different photoselective nets in the targeted regulation of metabolite accumulation, wine aroma and sensory profiles in warm viticulture regions.

To improve the quality of grapes and wine in warm viticulture regions, the effects of pearl, red and black photoselective nets on the quality of grapes and wine were systematically investigated. Compared with the CK (open field), three nets improved the microclimate conditions and reduced grape sugar and wine alcohol levels. However, the nets differentially affected other quality profiles of the grapes and wine. The pearl net reduced the total flavanol contents in grapes and total aromatic volatiles in wine. The red net increased the total flavanol, tannin and total aromatic volatile contents in wine by approximately 40%, 95% and 10%, respectively, and the percentages for the black net were 30%, 45% and 3%, respectively. The red and pearl nets were more inclined to improve the taste and aroma sensory qualities of wine than the black net did. The red net had the highest comprehensive scores via principal component analysis.