Isolation and biomimetic synthesis of phenylpropionyl phenylethylamines from Chloranthus henryi.

In this study, ten phenylpropionyl phenylethylamines, including five previously undescribed ones (1a/b, 2a/b, and 3), five known analogues (4 - 8), and two established phenylpropanoids precursors (9, 10) were isolated from the aerial parts of Chloranthus henryi Hemsl. Their structures, including absolute configurations, were determined by high-resolution mass spectrometry, enantio-separation, electronic circular dichroism calculation, and single crystal diffraction. Compounds 1a and 1b were the first examples of natural hetero-[2 + 2] cycloaddition products between phenylpropionyl phenylethylamine and phenylpropene. The plausible hetero-[2 + 2] biosynthesis pathway was confirmed by a photocatalytic biomimetic synthesis in eight steps, which also led to the production of three other potential natural homo-[2 + 2] adducts (1'a/b, 2', and 3'). Bioactivity screening indicated that these adducts bear medium inhibitory activity on nitric oxide generation, with IC50 values of 6 - 35 µM in RAW 264.7 macrophages.

In Situ Detection of Nucleic Acids in Extracellular Vesicles via Membrane Fusion.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) carry diverse biomolecules (e. g., nucleic acids, proteins) for intercellular communication, serving as important markers for diseases. Analyzing nucleic acids derived from EVs enables non-invasive disease diagnosis and prognosis evaluation. Membrane fusion, a fundamental cellular process wherein two lipid membranes merge, facilitates cell communication and cargo transport. Building on this natural phenomenon, recent years have witnessed the emergence of membrane fusion-based strategies for the detection of nucleic acids within EVs. These strategies entail the encapsulation of detection probes within either artificial or natural vesicles, followed by the induction of membrane fusion with EVs to deliver probes. This innovative approach not only enables in situ detection of nucleic acids within EVs but also ensures the maintenance of structural integrity of EVs, thus preventing nucleic acid degradation and minimizing the interference from free nucleic acids. This concept categorizes approaches into universal and targeted membrane fusion strategies, and discusses their application potential, and challenges and future prospects.

Liver transcriptome analysis reveal the metabolic and apoptotic responses of Trachinotus ovatus under acute cold stress.

Trachinotus ovatus is an economically important fish and has been recommended as a high-quality aquaculture fish breed for the high-quality development of sea ranches in the South China Sea. However, T. ovatus shows intolerance to low temperature, greatly limiting the extension of farming scale, reducing production efficiency in winter, and increasing farming risks. In this study, liver transcriptome analysis was investigated in T. ovatus under acute low temperature conditions (20 and 15 °C) using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology. Inter-groups differential expression analysis and trend analysis screened 1219 DEGs and four significant profiles (profiles 0, 3, 4, and 7), respectively. GO enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs were mainly related to metabolic process and cell growth and death process. KEGG enrichment analysis found that DEGs were mainly associated with lipid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and cell growth and death, such as gluconeogenesis, glycolysis, fatty acid oxidation, cholesterol biosynthesis, p53 signaling pathway, cell cycle arrest, and apoptotic cell death. Moreover, protein-protein interaction networks identified two hub genes (FOS and JUNB) and some important genes related to metabolic process and cell growth and death process, that corresponding to enrichment analysis. Overall, gluconeogenesis, lipid mobilization, and fatty acid oxidation in metabolic process and cell cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death in cell growth and death process were enhanced, while glycolysis, liver glycogen synthesis and cholesterol biosynthesis in metabolic process were inhibited. The enhancement or attenuatment of metabolic process and cell growth and death process is conducive to maintain energy balance, normal fluidity of cell membrane, normal physiological functions of liver cell, enhancing the tolerance of T. ovatus to cold stress. These results suggested that metabolic process and cell growth and death process play important roles in response to acute cold stress in the liver of T. ovatus. Gene expreesion level analysis showed that acute cold stress at 15 °C was identified as a critical temperature point for T. ovatus in term of cellular metabolism alteration and apoptosis inducement, and rewarming intervention should be timely implemented above 15 °C. Our study can provide theoretical support for breeding cold-tolerant cultivars of T. ovatus, which is contributed to high-quality productions fish production.

Causal associations between circulating cytokines and risk of sepsis and related outcomes: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Introduction: Sepsis represents a critical medical condition that arises due to an imbalanced host reaction to infection. Central to its pathophysiology are cytokines. However, observational investigations that explore the interrelationships between circulating cytokines and susceptibility to sepsis frequently encounter challenges pertaining to confounding variables and reverse causality. Methods: To elucidate the potential causal impact of cytokines on the risk of sepsis, we conducted two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses. Genetic instruments tied to circulating cytokine concentrations were sourced from genome-wide association studies encompassing 8,293 Finnish participants. We then evaluated their links with sepsis and related outcomes using summary-level data acquired from the UK Biobank, a vast multicenter cohort study involving over 500,000 European participants. Specifically, our data spanned 11,643 sepsis cases and 474,841 controls, with subsets including specific age groups, 28-day mortality, and ICU-related outcomes. Results and Discussion: MR insights intimated that reduced genetically-predicted interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels causally correlated with a heightened sepsis risk (odds ratio [OR] 0.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52-0.90, P=0.006). An inverse relationship emerged between monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and sepsis-induced mortality. Conversely, elevated macrophage inflammatory protein 1 beta (MIP1B) concentrations were positively linked with both sepsis incidence and associated mortality. These revelations underscore the causal impact of certain circulating cytokines on sepsis susceptibility and its prognosis, hinting at the therapeutic potential of modulating these cytokine levels. Additional research is essential to corroborate these connections.

Non-destructive detection of defective maize kernels using hyperspectral imaging and convolutional neural network with attention module.

Rapid, effective and non-destructive detection of the defective maize kernels is crucial for their high-quality storage in granary. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) coupled with convolutional neural network (CNN) based on spectral and spatial attention (Spl-Spal-At) module was proposed for identifying the different types of maize kernels. The HSI data within 380-1000 nm of six classes of sprouted, heat-damaged, insect-damaged, moldy, broken and healthy kernels was collected. The CNN-Spl-At, CNN-Spal-At and CNN-Spl-Spal-At models were established based on the spectra, images and their fusion features as inputs for the recognition of different kernels. Further compared the performances of proposed models and conventional models were built by support vector machine (SVM) and extreme learning machine (ELM). The results indicated that the recognition ability of CNN with attention series models was significantly better than that of SVM and ELM models and fused features were more conducive to expressing the appearance of different kernels than single features. And the CNN-Spl-Spal-At model had an optimal recognition result with high average classification accuracy of 98.04 % and 94.56 % for the training and testing sets, respectively. The recognition results were visually presented on the surface image of kernels with different colors. The CNN-Spl-Spal-At model was built in this study could effectively detect defective maize kernels, and it also had great potential to provide the analysis approaches for the development of non-destructive testing equipment based on HSI technique for maize quality.

Mechanistic insights into DNA damage recognition and checkpoint control in plants.

The plant DNA damage response (DDR) pathway safeguards genomic integrity by rapid recognition and repair of DNA lesions that, if unrepaired, may cause genome instability. Most frequently, DNA repair goes hand in hand with a transient cell cycle arrest, which allows cells to repair the DNA lesions before engaging in a mitotic event, but consequently also affects plant growth and yield. Through the identification of DDR proteins and cell cycle regulators that react to DNA double-strand breaks or replication defects, it has become clear that these proteins and regulators form highly interconnected networks. These networks operate at both the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels and include liquid-liquid phase separation and epigenetic mechanisms. Strikingly, whereas the upstream DDR sensors and signalling components are well conserved across eukaryotes, some of the more downstream effectors are diverged in plants, probably to suit unique lifestyle features. Additionally, DDR components display functional diversity across ancient plant species, dicots and monocots. The observed resistance of DDR mutants towards aluminium toxicity, phosphate limitation and seed ageing indicates that gaining knowledge about the plant DDR may offer solutions to combat the effects of climate change and the associated risk for food security.

SAA1 regulated by S1P/S1PR1 promotes the progression of ESCC via ß-catenin activation.

Serum amyloid A1 (SAA1), an inflammation-related molecule, is associated with the malignant progression of many tumors. This study aimed to investigate the role of SAA1 in the progression of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its molecular mechanisms. The expression of SAA1 in ESCC tissues and cell lines was analyzed using bioinformatics analysis, western blotting, and reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT‒qPCR). SAA1-overexpressing or SAA1-knockdown ESCC cells were used to assess the effects of SAA1 on the proliferation, migration, apoptosis of cancer cells and the growth of xenograft tumors in nude mice. Western blotting, immunofluorescence and RT‒qPCR were used to investigate the relationship between SAA1 and ß-catenin and SAA1 and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P)/sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 (S1PR1). SAA1 was highly expressed in ESCC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression of SAA1 significantly promoted the proliferation, migration and the growth of tumors in nude mice. Knockdown of SAA1 had the opposite effects and promoted the apoptosis of ESCC cells. Moreover, SAA1 overexpression promoted the phosphorylation of ß-catenin at Ser675 and increased the expression levels of the ß-catenin target genes MYC and MMP9. Knockdown of SAA1 had the opposite effects. S1P/S1PR1 upregulated SAA1 expression and ß-catenin phosphorylation at Ser675 in ESCC cells. In conclusion, SAA1 promotes the progression of ESCC by increasing ß-catenin phosphorylation at Ser675, and the S1P/S1PR1 pathway plays an important role in its upstream regulation.

Case Report: First attempt by off-label use of tenecteplase to treat acute extensive portal venous system thrombosis.

Acute extensive portal venous system thrombosis (PVST) can cause lethal complications. Herein, we have for the first time reported the use of anticoagulation combined with systemic thrombolysis by tenecteplase in a male patient with a diagnosis of acute extensive PVST but without liver cirrhosis. After thrombolytic therapy, abdominal pain obviously alleviated. However, urinary bleeding developed, which was reversible by stopping thrombolytic drugs. Finally, this case developed cavernous transformation of the portal vein without portal venous recanalization. In future, the efficacy and safety of tenecteplase should be explored in acute extensive PVST cases.

Controllable π-π coupling of intramolecular dimer models in aggregated states.

π-π coupling as a common interaction plays a key role in emissions, transport and mechanical properties of organic materials. However, the precise control of π-π coupling is still challenging owing to the possible interference from other intermolecular interactions in the aggregated state, usually resulting in uncontrollable emission properties. Herein, with the rational construction of intramolecular dimer models and crystal engineering, π-π coupling can be subtly modulated by conformation variation with balanced π-π and π-solvent interactions and visualized by green-to-blue emission switching. Moreover, it can rapidly respond to temperature, pressure and mechanical force, affording a facile way to modulate π-π coupling in situ. This work contributes to a deeper understanding of the internal mechanism of molecular motions in aggregated states.

Advancing High-Throughput MS-Based Protein Quantification: A Case Study on Quantifying 10 Major Food Allergens by LC-MS/MS Using a One-Sample Multipoint External Calibration Curve.

The LC-MS-based method has emerged as the preferred approach for quantifying food allergens. However, the preparation of a traditional calibration curve (MSCC) is labor-intensive and error-prone. Here, a sensitive and robust LC-MS/MS method for quantifying 10 major food allergens was developed and validated, where the one-sample multipoint external calibration curve (OSCC) was employed instead of MSCC. By employing the multiple isotopologue reaction monitoring (MIRM) technique with only one spiked level in the blank, OSCC can be effectively established. Results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits excellent performance in selectivity, sensitivity, accuracy, and precision, comparable to that of the traditional MSCC. Additionally, this strategy allows for isotope sample dilution by monitoring the less abundant MIRM channel. Moreover, the developed method was successfully applied to investigate the contamination of 10 food allergens in commercial food products. With its high throughput and robustness, the MIRM-OSCC-LC-MS/MS methodology has many potential applications, especially in the MS-based protein quantification analysis.

Migration and Transformation of Taxane Allelochemicals in Soil.

The migration and transformation of allelochemicals are important topics in the exploration of allelopathy. Current research on the migration of allelochemicals mostly uses soil column and thin layer methods and verifies it by sowing plant seeds. However, traditional methods inevitably ignore the flux caused by the movement of allelochemicals carried by water. In fact, the flux determines the amount of allelochemicals that directly affect plants. In this work, a method of microdialysis combined with a soil column and UPLC-MS/MS to detect the flux of allelochemicals was developed for the first time and successfully applied to the detection of five taxane allelochemicals in soil. Meanwhile, by adding taxane allelochemicals to the soil and detecting their transformation products using UPLC-MS/MS, the half-life of taxane in the soil was determined, and the transformation pathway of taxane allelochemicals in the soil was further speculated.

Upper abdominal pain in a young woman treated by endoscopic submucosal dissection.

A previously healthy 39-year-old woman was hospitalized with upper abdominal pain for 1-month duration. A semipedunculated protrusion with smooth surface was found at the gastric angle measuring 2.0 × 2.5-cm by gastroscopy. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) showed a hypoechoic mass originated from the mucosal layer. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed a circular pedunculated and slightly low-density mass with mild enhancement in the stomach cavity. Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) was performed. Postoperative histopathology examination revealed the tumor was composed of proliferated spindle cells with eosinophil infiltration which were around small blood vessels and mucosal glands arranged in an "onion-skin" appearance. Immunohistochemical analysis of the spindle cells showed CD34 was positive and CD117, S100, DOG-1, SMA, Desmin were negative. The patient was diagnosed as gastric inflammatory fibroid polyp (IFP) and no symptoms was observed in 12 months follow-up.

Oleanolic acid nanoparticles-stabilized W/O Pickering emulsions: Fabrication, characterization, and delivery application.

Water-in-oil (W/O) Pickering emulsions have wide applications in the food industries. However, the existing W/O Pickering particles have disadvantages such as lack of bioactivity and poor stability. In this study, naturally occurring bioactive oleanolic acid (OA) was used as a novel emulsifier for W/O emulsions. Results revealed that rod-like OA could formulate into spherical nanoparticles by self-assembly, and then be anchored onto the oil-water interface to stabilize the emulsions. Besides, both OA concentration and internal water fraction (φ) had significant effect on the properties of emulsions. Furthermore, the resulted emulsions exhibited potential application as carriers for epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which significantly improved its UV and thermal stability. Meanwhile, it could effectively protect EGCG from gastric digestion, and controlled release in the intestine. This work demonstrated the successful application of OA as a stabilizer for W/O emulsions, and provided valuable insight into its potential as delivery system for hydrophilic instable compounds.

Molecular basis of SAP05-mediated ubiquitin-independent proteasomal degradation of transcription factors.

SAP05, a secreted effector by the obligate parasitic bacteria phytoplasma, bridges host SPL and GATA transcription factors (TFs) to the 26 S proteasome subunit RPN10 for ubiquitination-independent degradation. Here, we report the crystal structures of SAP05 in complex with SPL5, GATA18 and RPN10, which provide detailed insights into the protein-protein interactions involving SAP05. SAP05 employs two opposing lobes with an acidic path and a hydrophobic path to contact TFs and RPN10, respectively. Our crystal structures, in conjunction with mutagenesis and degradation assays, reveal that SAP05 targets plant GATAs but not animal GATAs dependent on their direct salt-bridged electrostatic interactions. Additionally, SAP05 hijacks plant RPN10 but not animal RPN10 due to structural steric hindrance and the key hydrophobic interactions. This study provides valuable molecular-level information into the modulation of host proteins to prevent insect-borne diseases.

Functional and Structural Abnormalities in the Pain Network of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Patients with Pain Symptoms.

Pain symptoms significantly impact the well-being and work capacity of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and hinder treatment and recovery. Despite existing literature focusing on the neural substrate of pain and anxiety separately, further exploration is needed to understand the possible neuroimaging mechanisms of the pain symptoms in GAD patients. We recruited 73 GAD patients and 75 matched healthy controls (HC) for clinical assessments, as well as resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging scans. We defined a pain-related network through a published meta-analysis, including the insula, thalamus, periaqueductal gray, prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, and hippocampus. Subsequently, we conducted the regional homogeneity (ReHo) and the gray matter volume (GMV) within the pain-related network. Correlation analysis was then employed to explore associations between abnormal regions and self-reported outcomes, assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15) and pain scores. We observed significantly increased ReHo in the bilateral insula but decreased GMV in the bilateral thalamus of GAD compared to HC. Further correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between ReHo of the left anterior insula and pain scores in GAD patients, while a respective negative correlation between GMV of the bilateral thalamus and PHQ-15 scores. In summary, GAD patients exhibit structural and functional abnormalities in pain-related networks. The enhanced ReHo in the left anterior insula is correlated with pain symptoms, which might be a crucial brain region of pain symptoms in GAD.

Electrocatalytic denitrification biofilter for advanced purification of chlorophenols via ceramsite-based Ti/SnO2-Sb particle electrode: Performance, microbial community structure and mechanism.

In response to the demand for advanced purification of industrial secondary effluent, a new method has been developed for treating chlorophenol wastewater using the novel ceramsite-based Ti/SnO2-Sb particle electrodes (Ti/SnO2-Sb/CB) enhanced electrocatalytic denitrification biofilter (EDNBF-P) to achieve removal of chlorophenols (CPs), denitrification, and reduction of effluent toxicity. The results showed that significantly improved CPs and TN removal efficiency at low COD/N compared to conventional denitrification biofilter, with CPs removal rates increasing by 0.33%-59.27% and TN removal rates increasing by 12.53%-38.92%. Under the conditions of HRT = 2h, 3V voltage, charging times = 12h, and 25 °C, the concentrations of the CPs in the effluent of EDNBF-P were all below 1 mg/L, the TN concentration was below 15 mg/L, while the effluent toxicity reached the low toxicity level. Additionally, the Ti/SnO2-Sb/CB particle electrodes effectively alleviated the accumulation of NO2--N caused by applied voltage. The Silanimonas, Pseudomonas and Rhodobacter was identified as the core microorganism for denitrification and toxicity reduction. This study validated that EDNBF-P could achieve synergistic treatment of CPs and TN through electrocatalysis and microbial degradation, providing a methodological support for achieving advanced purification of chlorophenol wastewater with low COD/N in industrial applications.

Environmental occurrence, bioaccumulation and human risks of emerging fluoroalkylether substances: Insight into security of alternatives.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used due to their unique structure and excellent performance, while also posing threats on ecosystem, especially long-chain perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). As the control of conventional PFASs, fluoroalkylether substances (ether-PFASs) as alternatives are constantly emerging. Subsequently, the three representative ether-PFASs, chlorinated polyfluoroalkyl ether sulfonic acid (F-53B), hexafluoropropylene oxide-dimer acid (HFPO-DA), and 4,8-Dioxa-3H-perfluorononanoicacid (ADONA) are discovered and have received more attention in the environment and ecosystem. But their security is now also being challenged. This review systematically assesses their security from six dimensions including environmental occurrence in water, soil and atmosphere, as well as bioaccumulation and risk in plants, animals and humans. High substitution level is observed for F-53B, whether in environment or living things. Like PFOS or even more extreme, F-53B exhibits high biomagnification ability, transmission efficiency from maternal to infant, and various biological toxicity effects. HFPO-DA still has a relatively low substitution level for PFOA, but its use has emerged in Europe. Although it is less detected in human bodies and has a higher metabolic rate than PFOA, the strong migration ability of HFPO-DA in plants may pose dietary safety concerns for humans. Research on ADONA is limited, and currently, it is detected in Germany frequently while remaining at trace levels globally. Evidently, F-53B has shown increasing risk both in occurrence and toxicity compared to PFOS, and HFPO-DA is relatively safe based on available data. There are still knowledge gaps on security of alternatives that need to be addressed.

Scientometric analysis of electrocatalysis in wastewater treatment: today and tomorrow.

Electrocatalytic methods are valuable tools for addressing water pollution and scarcity, offering effective pollutant removal and resource recovery. To investigate the current status and future trends of electrocatalysis in wastewater treatment, a detailed analysis of 9417 papers and 4061 patents was conducted using scientometric methods. China emerged as the leading contributor to publications, and collaborations between China and the USA have emerged as the most frequent partnerships. Primary article co-citation clusters focused on oxygen evolution reaction and electrochemical oxidation, transitioning towards advanced oxidation processes ("persulfate activation"), and electrocatalytic reduction processes ("nitrate reduction"). Bifunctional catalysts, theoretical calculations, electrocatalytic combination technologies, and emerging contaminants were identified as current research hotspots. Patent analysis revealed seven types of electrochemical technologies, which were compared using SWOT analysis, highlighting electrochemical oxidation as prominent. The technological evolution presented the pathway of electro-Fenton to combined electrocatalytic technologies with biochemical processes, and finally to coupling with electrocoagulation. Standardized evaluation systems, waste resource utilization, and energy conservation were important directions of innovation in electrocatalytic technologies. Overall, this study provided a reference for researchers to understand the framework of electrocatalysis in wastewater treatment and also shed light on potential avenues for further innovation in the field.

Dynamical behaviours of discrete amensalism system with fear effects on first species.

Amensalism, a rare yet impactful symbiotic relationship in ecological systems, is the focus of this study. We examine a discrete-time amensalism system by incorporating the fear effect on the first species. We identify the plausible equilibrium points and analyze their local stability conditions. The global attractivity of the positive equilibrium, $ E^* $, and the boundary equilibrium, $ E_1 $, are analyzed by exploring threshold conditions linked to the level of fear. Additionally, we analyze transcritical bifurcations and flip bifurcations exhibited by the boundary equilibrium points analytically. Considering some biologically feasible parameter values, we conduct extensive numerical simulations. From numerical simulations, it is observed that the level of fear has a stabilizing effect on the system dynamics when it increases. It eventually accelerates the extinction process for the first species as the level of fear continues to increase. These findings highlight the complex interplay between external factors and intrinsic system dynamics, enriching potential mechanisms for driving species changes and extinction events.