DC Electric Fields Promote Biodegradation of Waterborne Naphthalene in Biofilter Systems.

Biofiltration is a simple and low-cost method for the cleanup of contaminated water. However, the reduced availability of dissolved chemicals to surface-attached degrader bacteria may limit its efficient use at certain hydraulic loadings. When a direct current (DC) electric field is applied to an immersed packed bed, it invokes electrokinetic processes, such as electroosmotic water flow (EOF). EOF is a surface-charge-induced plug-flow-shaped movement of pore fluids. It acts at a nanometer distance above surfaces and allows the change of microscale pressure-driven flow profiles and, hence, the availability of dissolved contaminants to microbial degraders. In laboratory percolation columns, we assessed the effects of a weak DC electric field (E = 0.5 V·cm-1) on the biodegradation of waterborne naphthalene (NAH) by surface-attached Pseudomonas fluorescens LP6a. To vary NAH bioavailability, we used different NAH concentrations (C0 = 2.7, 5.1, or 7.8 × 10-5 mol·L-1) and Darcy velocities typical for biofiltration (U¯ = 0.2-1.2 × 10-4 m·s-1). In DC-free controls, we observed higher specific degradation rates (qc) at higher NAH concentrations. The qc depended on U¯, suggesting bioavailability restrictions depending on the hydraulic residence times. DC fields consistently increased qc and resulted in linearly increasing benefits up to 55% with rising hydraulic loadings relative to controls. We explain these biodegradation benefits by EOF-altered microscale flow profiles allowing for better NAH provision to bacteria attached to the collectors even though the EOF was calculated to be 100-800 times smaller than bulk water flow. Our data suggest that electrokinetic approaches may give rise to future technical applications that allow regulating biodegradation, for example, in response to fluctuating hydraulic loadings.

MitoAMPK inhibits the Warburg effect by MZF1-SIRT6 with glycosis related genes in NSCLC.

MitoAMPK was proved to inhibit the Warburg effect, but the specific mechanisms on non-small-cell lung cancer remain unclear. Here, we selected SIRT6 and MZF1 to clarify the mechanism. By western blotting, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, the CCK-8 assay, and immunohistochemistry assays, we found SIRT6 expression was lower in NSCLC tissues and cell lines than normal tissues and cells. Moreover, SIRT6 could inhibit the Warburg effect by regulating glycolysis-related genes of SLC2A2, SLC2A4 and PKM2. Finally, we demonstrated the interaction between SIRT6 and MZF1 using ChIP-qPCR. In conclusion, mitoAMPK inhibits the Warburg effect by regulating the expression of the MZF1-SIRT6 complex.

An Analysis of Capsaicin, Dihydrocapsaicin, Vitamin C and Flavones in Different Tissues during the Development of Ornamental Pepper.

As a fruit and vegetable crop, the ornamental pepper is not just highly ornamental but also rich in nutritional value. The quality of ornamental pepper fruits is given in their contents of capsaicin, vitamin C (VC), flavonoids and total phenols. The study concentrated on the accumulation of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in different tissues of 18 peppers during fruit growth and development. The results showed that the pericarp and placenta contained significantly higher levels of capsaicin than dihydrocapsaicin. Additionally, the placenta contained significantly higher levels of both capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin compared to the pericarp. The content of capsaicin was in the range of 0-6.7915 mg·g-1, the range of dihydrocapsaicin content was 0-5.329 mg·g-1. Interestingly, we found that the pericarp is rich in VC (5.4506 mg·g-1) and the placenta is high in flavonoids (4.8203 mg·g-1) and total phenols (119.63 mg·g-1). The capsaicin is the most important component using the correlation analysis and principal component analysis. The qPCR results substantiated that the expression of genes in the placenta was significantly higher than that in the pericarp and that the expression of genes in green ripening stage was higher than that in red ripening stage. This study could be utilized to select the best ripening stages and tissues to harvest peppers according to the use of the pepper and to the needs of producers. It not only provides a reference for quality improvement and processing for consumers and market but also provides a theoretical basis for high-quality pepper breeding.

Soybean (Glycine max L.) Leaf Moisture Estimation Based on Multisource Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Image Feature Fusion.

Efficient acquisition of crop leaf moisture information holds significant importance for agricultural production. This information provides farmers with accurate data foundations, enabling them to implement timely and effective irrigation management strategies, thereby maximizing crop growth efficiency and yield. In this study, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) multispectral technology was employed. Through two consecutive years of field experiments (2021-2022), soybean (Glycine max L.) leaf moisture data and corresponding UAV multispectral images were collected. Vegetation indices, canopy texture features, and randomly extracted texture indices in combination, which exhibited strong correlations with previous studies and crop parameters, were established. By analyzing the correlation between these parameters and soybean leaf moisture, parameters with significantly correlated coefficients (p < 0.05) were selected as input variables for the model (combination 1: vegetation indices; combination 2: texture features; combination 3: randomly extracted texture indices in combination; combination 4: combination of vegetation indices, texture features, and randomly extracted texture indices). Subsequently, extreme learning machine (ELM), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), and back propagation neural network (BPNN) were utilized to model the leaf moisture content. The results indicated that most vegetation indices exhibited higher correlation coefficients with soybean leaf moisture compared with texture features, while randomly extracted texture indices could enhance the correlation with soybean leaf moisture to some extent. RDTI, the random combination texture index, showed the highest correlation coefficient with leaf moisture at 0.683, with the texture combination being Variance1 and Correlation5. When combination 4 (combination of vegetation indices, texture features, and randomly extracted texture indices) was utilized as the input and the XGBoost model was employed for soybean leaf moisture monitoring, the highest level was achieved in this study. The coefficient of determination (R2) of the estimation model validation set reached 0.816, with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.404 and a mean relative error (MRE) of 1.934%. This study provides a foundation for UAV multispectral monitoring of soybean leaf moisture, offering valuable insights for rapid assessment of crop growth.

Risk factors for treatment-related bone loss and osteoporosis in patients with follicular lymphoma.

The survival rate of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has steadily improved. However, osteoporosis introduced by treatment is prevalent and associated with increased mortality and disability for patients with NHL. We aimed to investigate factors impacting bone mineral density (BMD) reduction and osteoporosis, and the trend of BMD after chemotherapy. Overall, 97 newly diagnosed patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) were retrospectively enrolled. CT attenuation values were measured to assess BMD levels. Although 73.2% of patients received calcium and vitamin D supplements, 44.3% showed significant BMD reduction, and baseline BMD and hemoglobin levels were the risk factors. 26.6% of patients newly developed osteoporosis post-chemotherapy where age and cumulative dose of glucocorticoid were risk factors. The results of 20 patients with consecutive follow-up showed that BMD continued to decline for 6 months post-chemotherapy and did not return to baseline values. Therefore, BMD evaluation and more positive anti-resorption treatments should be administered for high-risk patients.

Bacterial lipoprotein plays an important role in the macrophage autophagy and apoptosis induced by Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus.

This study aimed to determine the role of bacterial lipoprotein (BLP) in autophagy and apoptosis. Western blot was used to examine autophagy biomarkers in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) after infection with Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and BLP stimulation. In BMDMs, enhanced protein expression of LC3-II was observed after S. typhimurium or S. aureus infection (P < 0.05) and BLP stimulation (P < 0.05). Autophagy inhibition by chloroquine resulted in increased levels of LC3-Ⅱ and p62 protein (P < 0.05). Persistently upregulated expressions of Atg3 and Atg7 were observed following BLP stimulation (P < 0.05), and knockdown of Atg3 or Atg7 significantly attenuated BLP-enhanced protein expression of LC3-Ⅱ in BMDMs. Furthermore, we found that the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine prevented BLP- and infection-induced macrophage apoptosis. BLP is not only required for autophagy and apoptosis activation in macrophages but also for regulating the balance between autophagy and apoptosis.

Relationship Between Serum Amino Acid Levels and Bone Mineral Density: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Background: This study aimed to explore the association between serum amino acids (AAs) levels and bone mineral density (BMD). Methods: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to analyze the associations between the levels of eight AAs and BMD values by using summary-level genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. We applied the MR Steiger filtering method and MR Pleiotropy RESidual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) global test to check for and remove single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were horizontally pleiotropic. The associations were estimated with the inverse variance weighted (IVW), MR-Egger, weighted median and MR Robust Adjusted Profile Score (MR.RAPS) methods. Results: Our study found that genetically increased isoleucine (Ile) [IVW: effect = 0.1601, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.0604 ~ 0.2597, p = 0.0016] and valine (Val) levels (IVW: effect = 0.0953, 95% CI = 0.0251 ~ 0.1655, p = 0.0078) were positively associated with total body BMD (TB-BMD). The results also revealed that genetically increased tyrosine (Tyr) levels were negatively associated with TB-BMD (IVW: effect = -0.1091, 95% CI = -0.1863 ~ -0.0320, p = 0.0055). Conclusions: In this study, associations between serum AA levels and BMD were established. These findings underscore the important role that serum AAs play in the development of osteoporosis and provide evidence that osteoporosis can be prevented and treated by the intake of certain AAs.