Bifunctional Chiral Electrocatalysts Enable Enantioselective α-Alkylation of Aldehydes.

Herein, we describe an innovative approach to the asymmetric electrochemical α-alkylation of aldehydes facilitated by a newly designed bifunctional chiral electrocatalyst. The highly efficient bifunctional chiral electrocatalyst combines a chiral aminocatalyst with a redox mediator. It plays a dual role as a redox mediator for electrooxidation, while simultaneously providing remarkable asymmetric induction for the stereoselective α-alkylation of aldehydes. Additionally, this novel catalyst exhibits enhanced catalytic activity and excellent stereoselective control comparable to conventional catalytic systems. As a result, this strategy provides a new avenue for versatile asymmetric electrochemistry. The electrooxidation of diverse phenols enables the C-H/C-H oxidative α-alkylation of aldehydes in a highly chemo- and stereoselective fashion. Detailed mechanistic studies by control experiments and cyclic voltammetry analysis demonstrate possible reaction pathways and the origin of enantio-induction.

The effect of nano-silica and silica fume on the sodium carbonate-activated slag system containing air pollution control residues.

The utilization of municipal solid waste incineration residues in alkali-activated granulated ground blast furnace slag (GGBFS) has garnered substantial interest for its potential in sustainable solid waste management and achieving a low-carbon footprint. However, incorporating these residues often leads to the deterioration of mechanical properties. This study revealed the role of silica fume (SF) and nano-silica (NS) derived from olivine within a sodium carbonate-activated GGBFS system incorporating air pollution control (APC) residues. The dosage of silica additives and APC residues ranges from 0 - 6 wt% and 0-15 wt%, respectively. The mechanical properties, reaction kinetics, phase composition, microstructure and carbonation resistance of the blended binder were investigated. Results indicated that SF slightly improved the early compressive strength with the formation of C-(A)-S-H gel (Ca/Si = 1.47, Al/Si = 0.23), hemicarboaluminate and hydrotalcite; reactive NS retarded the activation of GGBFS and inhibited the formation of hemicarboaluminate and hydrotalcite, while promoting the formation of C-A-S-H gel (Ca/Si = 1.01, Al/Si = 0.23), resulting in an impressive 80.3 % enhancement in compressive strength. Notably, NS-modified samples exhibited decreased carbonation resistance due to increased porosity and C-(A)-S-H gels that are vulnerable to carbonation. Conversely, 2 % SF addition decreased the diffusion rate of CO2, and APC residues improved the carbonation resistance by facilitating the formation of C-(A)-S-H gel with a higher Ca/Si ratio. This study provided an alternative management practice for APC residues with favorable early strength development and offered new insights into using silica additives to enhance waste-combined alkali-activated materials.

miR-460b-5p promotes proliferation and differentiation of chicken myoblasts and targets RBM19 gene.

The meat production of broilers is crucial to economic benefits of broiler industries, while the slaughter performance of broilers is directly determined by skeletal muscle development. Hence, the broiler breeding for growth traits shows a great importance. As a kind of small noncoding RNA, microRNA (miRNA) can regulate the expression of multiple genes and perform a wide range of regulation in organisms. Currently, more and more studies have confirmed that miRNAs are closely associated with skeletal muscle development of chickens. Based on our previous miR-seq analysis (accession number: PRJNA668199), miR-460b-5p was screened as one of the key miRNAs probably involved in the growth regulation of chickens. However, the regulatory effect of miR-460b-5p on the development of chicken skeletal muscles is still unclear. Therefore, miR-460b-5p was further used for functional validation at the cellular level in this study. The expression pattern of miR-460b-5p was investigated in proliferation and differentiation stages of chicken primary myoblasts. It was showed that the expression level of miR-460b-5p gradually decreased from the proliferation stage (GM 50%) to the lowest at 24 h of differentiation. As differentiation proceeded, miR-460b-5p expression increased significantly, reaching the highest and stabilizing at 72 h and 96 h of differentiation. Through mRNA quantitative analysis of proliferation marker genes, CCK-8 and Edu assays, miR-460b-5p was found to significantly facilitate the transition of myoblasts from G1 to S phase and promote chicken myoblast proliferation. mRNA and protein quantitative analysis of differentiation marker genes, as well as the indirect immunofluorescence results of myotubes, revealed that miR-460b-5p significantly stimulated myotube development and promote chicken myoblast differentiation. In addition, the target relationship was validated for miR-460b-5p according to the dual-luciferase reporter assay and mRNA quantitative analysis, which indicates that miR-460b-5p was able to regulate RBM19 expression by specifically binding to the 3' UTR of RBM19. In summary, miR-460b-5p has positive regulatory effects on the proliferation and differentiation of chicken myoblasts, and RBM19 is a target gene of miR-460b-5p.

Adrenal cortical carcinoma in children: a clinicopathological analysis of 25 cases / 中华病理学杂志

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological features, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) in children. Methods: Twenty-five children with ACC diagnosed in the Department of Pathology, Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China from March 2014 to August 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. The related literature was reviewed. Results: A total of 25 children with ACC were collected, including 11 males and 14 females, with a male to female ratio of 1.0∶1.3. The patient ages ranged from 8 months to 14 years (median, 4 years). Eighteen cases with clinical data had functional tumors (18/22, 81.8%) presenting with virilization or precocious puberty (15/18), symptoms related to hypercortisolism (8/18) or endocrine symptoms mixed with both (5/18), while 3 cases (3/22, 13.6%) had unknown clinical data. The clinical manifestations of four patients with nonfunctional tumors were an abdominal mass and/or abdominal pain, walking instability and others. Grossly, the average maximum diameter of the tumor was 9.4 cm. Most of the tumors were nodular and partially encapsuled. The cut surfaces were gray or gray brown, soft with hemorrhage. Histologically, the tumor cells were diffusely distributed, separated by a vascular-rich network. The tumor cells were large, with distinct nucleoli, abundant eosinophilic or clear cytoplasm, and round or oval nuclei. The mitotic index was high, and atypical mitoses were common. Necrosis, calcification, capsule invasion or/and venous invasion were present. In some cases, the tumor invaded the surrounding soft tissues or kidneys. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were diffusely positive for syn and SF1 and focally positive for α-inhibin, Melan A and Calretinin, but negative for CgA. Ki-67 proliferation index ranged from 2%-90%. TP53 gene status was examined in 7 cases, in which mutations were detected in 4 cases. Follow-up data was obtained in 21 patients, among whom 18 received chemotherapy and 3 received radiotherapy. Distant metastasis occurred in 13 patients. Median progression-free survival (PFS) was 11.2 months and median overall survival (OS) was 54.7 months. Patients aged less than 5 years had a better prognosis for OS (P<0.05) than the older ones (≥5 years), but a similar PFS (P>0.05). Male patients and Ki-67 proliferation index <15% had a better prognosis tendency for OS, but there was no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). Conclusions: ACC in children is a rare, often functional tumor associated with Li-Fraumeni genetic syndrome and has a poor prognosis. Diagnosis and differential diagnosis require a combination of morphological, phenotypic and clinical analysis.

Nanostructure Control of GaN by Electrochemical Etching for Enhanced Perovskite Quantum Dot LED Backlighting.

Upgraded technology has realized miniaturization and promoted transformation in each field. Miniaturized light-emitting diode (LED) chips enable higher resolution and create a full sense of immersion in displays. Porous GaN is a structure that can reduce excitation light leakage and enhance the light conversion efficiency. Perovskite quantum dots with the highest optical density as candidate materials for loading in pores can significantly decrease the aggregation phenomenon and increase the path of light absorption. Here, the porous tunability is explored by electrochemical etching under a range of voltages, concentrations, and etching times with acid and base electrolytes, such as oxalic acid and potassium hydroxide. Based on scanning electron microscopy images, the distribution of the pores and the morphology of pore channels can be distinguished under acid and base etching. Larger pore sizes and distorted channels (∼680 nm) are presented on the oxalic acid-etched GaN chip. In contrast, smaller pore sizes and straight-deeper channels (∼5650 nm) are demonstrated on the GaN by potassium hydroxide etching. Therefore, the hybrid nanostructure is etched by oxalic acid and potassium hydroxide, separately. The green and red light conversion efficiencies of perovskite quantum dots pumped by a blue LED can be improved by 3 and 10 times, respectively, resulting in a color gamut of approximately 124%.

Metal ion endogenous cycles of CoFe2O4-x induced boosted photocatalytic/PMS degradation toward polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The rational design of photocatalytic nanomaterials with unique structures is critical for remediating environmental problems and thus reducing ecological risks. In this work, we employed H2 temperature-programmed reduction to modify MFe2O4 (M = Co, Cu, and Zn) photocatalysts for obtaining additional oxygen vacancies. After activation of PMS, naphthalene and phenanthrene degradation rates in the soil phase were increased by 3.24-fold and 1.39-fold, respectively, and 1.38-fold for naphthalene in the aqueous phase by H-CoFe2O4-x. The extraordinary photocatalytic activity is attributed to the oxygen vacancies on the H-CoFe2O4-x surface, which promote electron transfer and thus enhance the redox cycle from Co(III)/Fe(III) to Co(II)/Fe(II). In addition, oxygen vacancies are used as electron traps to hinder the recombination of photogenerated carriers and accelerate the generation of hydroxyl and superoxide radicals. Quenching tests showed that the addition of p-benzoquinone resulted in the greatest decrease in the degradation rate of naphthalene (inhibition of about 85.5%), demonstrating that O2˙- radicals are the main active species in the photocatalytic degradation of naphthalene. H-CoFe2O4-x showed improved degradation performance in synergy with PMS (82.0%, kapp = 0.00714 min-1) while maintaining excellent stability and reusability. Hence, this work provides a promising approach for the design of efficient photocatalysts to degrade persistent organic pollutants in soil and aqueous environments.

Deciphering basic and key traits of antibiotic resistome in influent and effluent of hospital wastewater treatment systems.

Hospital wastewater treatment system (HWTS) is an important source and environmental reservoir of clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). However, how antibiotic resistome of clinical wastewater changed in HWTS is poorly understood. Herein, the basic quantitative traits (i.e., diversity and abundance) of ARGs in three HWTSs were profiled by metagenomics. In total, 709 ARG subtypes belonging to 20 ARG types were detected with relative abundance ranging from 1.12 × 10-5 to 7.33 × 10-1 copies/cell. Notably, most ARGs could not be significantly removed by chlorination treatment in the HWTS. These ARGs were identified to confer resistance to almost all major classes of antibiotics and include ARGs of last-resort antibiotics, such as blaNDM, mcr and tet(X) which were abundantly occurred in HWTS with 19, 5 and 7 variants, respectively. Moreover, qualitative analysis based on metagenome-assembled genome (MAG) analysis revealed that the putative hosts of the identified ARGs were broadly distributed into at least 8 dominant bacterial phyla. Of the 107 ARG-carrying MAGs recovered, 39 encoded multi-antibiotic resistance and 16 belonged to antibiotic resistant pathogens. Further analysis of co-occurrence patterns of ARGs with mobile genetic elements suggested their potential mobility. These key qualitative traits of ARGs provided further information about their phylogeny and genetic context. This study sheds light on the key traits of ARGs associated with resistance dissemination and pathogenicity and health risks of clinical wastewater.

Mechanism of Fructus Lycii against dry eye: an analysis based on network pharmacology and experimental verification / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

AIM: To explore the mechanism of fructus lycii in treating dry eye based on network pharmacology and experimental verification.METHODS: Taking “fructus lycii” as key words, the active ingredients and target of fructus lycii were searched by using Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform(TCMSP). Gene targets related to dry eye(DE)were searched by GeneCards and OMIM databases. The target genes of fructus lycii and DE were imported into Venn software to obtain the intersection target map of them. After that, the data were imported into the String database to obtain the PPI protein-protein interaction network diagram. Using Cytoscape3.7.2 software, the PPI protein-protein interaction network diagram was constructed for active ingredients, target sites and related diseases of fructus lycii. The Bioconductor platform and R language were used for gene ontology(GO)and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes(KEGG)enrichment analysis. And the key targets in the pathogenesis of DE were verified by experiments.RESULTS: Through TCMSP, 45 types of effective chemical components of fructus lycii, 174 target genes corresponding to active components and 131 common target genes with DE were screenedout. In accordance with the network topology of “drug-composition-disease-target”, 27 main effective components of fructus lycii were found in the treatment of DE. The PPI network was analyzed according to the high degree value, which is the key targets of fructus lycii for DE treatment, mainly including AKT1, VEGFA, CASP3, IL1B, JUN, PTGS2, CXCL8, etc. According to GO enrichment analysis, 166 biological functions and processes of fructus lycii for DE treatment were obtained. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that 31 signaling pathways were involved. Additionally, experimental verification displayed that the protein expressions of AKT1, interleukin-6(IL-6), tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α)and IL-17 in conjunctiva tissue of the DE model group were significantly increased.CONCLUSIONS: Through network pharmacology, this study confirmed that the treatment of DE by fructus lycii is a complex process involving multi-components, multi-targets and multi-pathways, and that the treatment of DE by fructus lycii is mainly regulated by anti-inflammatory and apoptosis-related molecules.

Hue-indexing-based absolute phase retrieval method using a discrete hue sequence.

To achieve an effective phase unwrapping for hue-based fringe projection profilometry, this paper proposes a hue-indexing-based absolute phase retrieval method using a discrete hue sequence. First, the hue component is extracted as the wrapped phase for 3D reconstruction by projecting a programmed hue fringe pattern. Afterward, a hue-indexing sequence with a random combination of six unique hues from the hue map is designed for hue unwrapping. By assigning a hue index of the fringe geometric center, the defocusing effect in the hue unwrapping is corrected, where the fringe order of the wrapped hue is then uniquely identified. The simulations show that the root mean square (RMS) of the residual error is 2.2185×10-4 r a d, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is further verified through experiments using a plaster statue and a compressor blade. The measurement comparison of the proposed method and the coordinate measuring machine is provided, where the RMS error of the measured deviation is 4.09×10-2 m m.

Prediction of the Effect of Methylation in the Promoter Region of ZP2 Gene on Egg Production in Jinghai Yellow Chickens.

Egg production in chickens is a quantitative trait. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of promoter methylation of the Zona pellucida 2 (ZP2) gene on egg production. Real-time fluorescence quantification showed that the expression of the ZP2 gene in the ovaries of 300-day-old Jinghai yellow chickens in the high-laying group was significantly higher than that in the low-laying group (p < 0.01). A series of deletion fragments of the ZP2 gene promoter in Jinghai yellow chickens had different promoter activities in DF-1 cells, and the core region of the ZP2 gene promoter was found to be between −1552 and −1348. Four CpG islands in the promoter region of the ZP2 gene were detected by software prediction. The overall degree of methylation of the ZP2-1 amplified fragment was negatively correlated with mRNA expression to some extent (R = −0.197); the overall degree of methylation of the ZP2-2 amplified fragment was also negatively correlated with mRNA expression to some extent (R = −0.264), in which the methylation of methylcytosine (mC)-9, mC-20, and mC-21 sites was significantly negatively correlated with mRNA expression (p < 0.05). In addition, the mC-20 and mC-21 sites are located on the Sp1 transcription factor binding site, and it is speculated that these two sites may be the main sites for regulating transcription. In summary, the methylation sites mC-20 and mC-21 of the ZP2 gene may inhibit the binding of Sp1 and DNA, affect the transcription of the ZP2 gene, and then affect the number of eggs produced by the Jinghai yellow chickens.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts subtypes and role in invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), an important cell type in the tumor microenvironment, play an important role in GC development. In this review, we describe the current knowledge of CAFs' heterogeneity and their role in GC invasion and metastasis. Currently, CAF-targeted cancer therapies are being rapidly explored and developed. However, the heterogeneity of CAFs limits the application of this therapy, so it is urgent to find specific markers and divide them into different subpopulations. With the development of single-cell RNA sequencing technology, researchers have used this technology to classify CAFs in many tumors, but whether it is applicable to GC and other tumors needs further study. And we believe that this technology will be in the near future utilized to sort CAFs on the basis of different cell markers and functions, so as to target tumor-promoting CAFs and inhibit tumor progression. Targeting CAFs by cell surface markers or normalizing the activated CAFs subsets may be an effective therapy, alone or in combination with other therapeutic approaches for GC treatment. Therefore, in the coming decades, the interaction between CAFs and GC cells will be still the focus of our research.

Stilbenes from the leaves of Cajanus cajan and their in vitro anti-inflammatory activities.

Eighteen stilbenes (1-18), including six previously undescribed ones (1-6), with diverse modification patterns were isolated from the leaves of edible and medicinal plant Cajanus cajan. Among the new isolates, compounds 1-3 were initially obtained as three racemic mixtures, which were further resolved into three pairs of optically pure enantiomers, respectively, by chiral HPLC. Besides, compounds 8, 10, 11, and 18 were obtained from C. cajan for the first time. The chemical structures and absolute configurations of the new stilbenes were elucidated unambiguously on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analyses, single crystal X-ray crystallographic study, and quantum chemical electronic circular dichroism (ECD) calculations. In addition, the in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of all isolated stilbenes were evaluated. Compounds 2, 9, 10, 11, and 14 exerted moderate suppression of nitric oxide (NO) secretion in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells without exhibiting substantial cytotoxicity.

Comparative Analysis of miRNA Expression Profiles in Skeletal Muscle of Bian Chickens at Different Embryonic Ages.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are widely involved in the growth and development of skeletal muscle through the negative regulation of target genes. In order to screen out the differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) associated with skeletal muscle development of Bian chickens at different embryonic ages, we used the leg muscles of fast-growing and slow-growing Bian chickens at the 14th and 20th embryonic ages (F14, F20, S14 and S20) for RNA-seq. A total of 836 known miRNAs were identified, and 121 novel miRNAs were predicted. In the F14 vs. F20 comparison group, 127 DEMs were screened, targeting a total of 2871 genes, with 61 miRNAs significantly upregulated and 66 miRNAs significantly downregulated. In the S14 vs. S20 comparison group, 131 DEMs were screened, targeting a total of 3236 genes, with 60 miRNAs significantly upregulated and 71 miRNAs significantly downregulated. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis showed that the predicted target genes were significantly enriched in 706 GO terms and 6 KEGG pathways in the F14 vs. F20 group and 677 GO terms and 5 KEGG pathways in the S14 vs. S20 group. According to the interaction network analysis, we screened five coexpressed DEMs (gga-miR-146a-3p, gga-miR-2954, gga-miR-34a-5p, gga-miR-1625-5p and gga-miR-18b-3p) with the highest connectivity degree with predicted target genes between the two comparison groups, and five hub genes (HSPA5, PKM2, Notch1, Notch2 and RBPJ) related to muscle development were obtained as well. Subsequently, we further identified nine DEMs (gga-let-7g-3p, gga-miR-490-3p, gga-miR-6660-3p, gga-miR-12223-5p, novel-miR-327, gga-miR-18a-5p, gga-miR-18b-5p, gga-miR-34a-5p and gga-miR-1677-3p) with a targeting relationship to the hub genes, suggesting that they may play important roles in the muscle development of Bian chickens. This study reveals the miRNA differences in skeletal muscle development between 14- and 20-day embryos of Bian chickens from fast- and slow-growing groups and provides a miRNA database for further studies on the molecular mechanisms of the skeletal muscle development in Bian chickens.

The risks of sulfur addition on cadmium accumulation in paddy rice under different water-management conditions.

Recently, the application of sulfur (S) has been recommended to control the accumulation of cadmium (Cd) in rice in contaminated paddy soil. However, the effects of exogenous S on Cd transfer in paddy rice systems under different water-management practices have not been systematically investigated. Pot experiments were performed to monitor the composition of soil pore water and the Cd accumulation in iron plaque and rice tissue were compared under different S (0 and 200 mg/kg Na2SO4) and water (continuous and discontinuous flooding) treatments. Sulfur application significantly increased Cd concentrations in soil pore water under discontinuous flooding conditions, but slightly reduced them under continuous flooding. Moreover, the oxidation/reduction potential (Eh) was the most critical factor that affected the Cd levels. When the Eh exceeded -42.5 mV, S became the second critical factor, and excessive S application promoted Cd dissolution. In addition, S addition elevated the Cd levels in iron plaque and reduced the Cd transfer from the iron plaque to rice roots. In rice, S addition inhibited Cd transfer from the rice roots to the straw; thus, more Cd was stored in the rice roots. Nevertheless, additional S application increased the Cd content in the rice grains by 72% under discontinuous flooding, although this effect was mitigated by continued flooding. Under simulated practical water management conditions, S addition increased the risk of Cd contamination in rice, suggesting that S application should be reconsidered as a paddy fertilization strategy.

Mechanism and potential risk of antibiotic resistant bacteria carrying last resort antibiotic resistance genes under electrochemical treatment.

The significant rise in the number of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) that resulted from our abuse of antibiotics could do severe harm to public health as well as to the environment. We investigated removal efficiency and removal mechanism of electrochemical (EC) treatment based on 6 different bacteria isolated from hospital wastewater carrying 3 last resort ARGs including NDM-1, mcr-1 and tetX respectively. We found that the removal efficiency of ARGs increased with the increase of both voltage and electrolysis time while the maximum removal efficiency can reach 90%. The optimal treatment voltage and treatment time were 3 V and 120 min, respectively. Temperature, pH and other factors had little influence on the EC treatment process. The mechanism of EC treatment was explored from the macroscopic and microscopic levels by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and flow cytometry. Our results showed that EC treatment significantly changed the permeability of cell membrane and caused cells successively experience early cell apoptosis, late cell apoptosis and cell necrosis. Moreover, compared with traditional disinfection methods, EC treatment had less potential risks. The conjugative transfer frequencies of cells were significantly reduced after treatment. Less than 1% of bacteria entered the viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state and less than 5% of intracellular ARGs (iARGs) turned into extracellular ARGs (eARGs). Our findings provide new insights into as well as important reference for future electrochemical treatment in removing ARB from hospital wastewater.

Recent advances in halal food authentication: Challenges and strategies.

Increasing public awareness of food quality and safety has prompted a rapid increase in food authentication of halal food, which covers the production method, technical processing, identification of undeclared components, and species substitution in halal food products. This urges for extensive research into analytical methods to obtain accurate and reliable results for monitoring and controlling the authenticity of halal food. Nonetheless, authentication of halal food is often challenging because of the complex nature of food and the increasing number of food adulterants that cause detection difficulties. This review provides a comprehensive and impartial overview of recent studies on the analytical techniques used in the analysis of halal food authenticity (from 1980 to the present, but there has been no significant trend in the choice of techniques for authentication of halal food during this period). Additionally, this review highlights the classification of different methodologies based on validity measures that provide valuable information for future developments in advanced technology. In addition, methodological developments, and novel emerging techniques as well as their implementations have been explored in the evaluation of halal food authentication. This includes food categories that require halal authentication, illustrating the advantages and disadvantages as well as shortcomings during the use of all approaches in the halal food industry.

Noradrenaline modulates the spontaneous firing activities of Purkinje cells via α2-adrenergic receptor in mouse cerebellar cortex / 生理学报

Cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) exhibit two types of discharge activities: simple spike (SS) and complex spike (CS). Previous studies found that noradrenaline (NA) can inhibit CS and bidirectionally regulate SS, but the enhancement of NA on SS is overwhelmed by the strong inhibition of excitatory molecular layer interneurons. However, the mechanism underlying the effect of NA on SS discharge frequency is not clear. Therefore, in the present study, we examined the mechanism underlying the increasing effect of NA on SS firing of PC in mouse cerebellar cortex in vivo and in cerebellar slice by cell-attached and whole-cell recording technique and pharmacological methods. GABAA receptor was blocked by 100 µmol/L picrotoxin in the whole process. In vivo results showed that NA significantly reduced the number of spikelets of spontaneous CS and enhanced the discharge frequency of SS, but did not affect the discharge frequency of CS. In vitro experiments showed that NA reduced the number of CS spikelets and after hyperpolarization potential (AHP) induced by electrical stimulation, and increased the discharge frequency of SS. NA also reduced the amplitude of excitatory postsynaptic current (EPSC) of parallel fiber (PF)-PC and significantly increased the paired-pulse ratio (PPR). Application of yohimbine, an antagonist of α2-adrenergic receptor (AR), completely eliminated the enhancing effect of NA on SS. The α2-AR agonist, UK14304, also increased the frequency of SS. The β-AR blocker, propranolol, did not affect the effects of NA on PC. These results suggest that in the absence of GABAA receptors, NA could attenuate the synaptic transmission of climbing fiber (CF)-PC via activating α2-AR, inhibit CS activity and reduce AHP, thus enhancing the SS discharge frequency of PC. This result suggests that NA neurons of locus coeruleus can finely regulate PC signal output by regulating CF-PC synaptic transmission.

Landscape of genes in hospital wastewater breaking through the defense line of last-resort antibiotics.

Hospital wastewater contains abundant antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), and pathogens. Last-resort antibiotic resistance genes (LARGs) include the New Delhi metallo-ß-lactamase gene blaNDM, mobile colistin resistance gene mcr and tigecycline resistance gene tet(X) which confers resistance to carbapenems, colistin and tigecycline. The presence and significance of LARGs in hospital wastewater treatment systems (HWTS) have not yet been systematically explored. Here, LARG variants were shown to be prevalent both influents and effluents of HWTS. A total of 989 Enterobacteriaceae isolates that confer resistance to last-resort antibiotics were collected from effluents and multiple genetic contexts of LARGs were analyzed. LARGs-carrying plasmids were confirmed to show high multidrug phenotypes and transferability. We also discovered the co-occurrence of plasmids harboring blaNDM-1 and mcr-1 in single Escherichia coli, as well as E. coli HM016 containing two unique mcr-1-carrying plasmids. This result might accelerate co-dissemination of LARGs under environmental selection pressure. Different core genetic arrangements in these strains suggest several evolutionary pathways in HWTS. The resistance functions of LARGs were confirmed in vitro and in vivo by mass spectrometry. This study provides novel insights into the diversity, genetic context and function of critical ARGs in HWTS. The results raise the concern that LARGs may further spread into the environment, thus, more stringent discharge standards and regulations for hospital wastewater are urgently needed.

Comprehensively Improved Performance of ß-Ga2O3 Solar-Blind Photodetector Enabled by a Homojunction with Unique Passivation Mechanisms.

Ga2O3-based solar-blind photodetectors have been extensively investigated for a wide range of applications. However, to date, a lot of research has focused on optimizing the epitaxial technique or constructing a heterojunction, and studies concerning surface passivation, a key technique in electronic and optoelectronic devices, are severely lacking. Here, we report an ultrasensitive metal-semiconductor-metal photodetector employing a ß-Ga2O3 homojunction structure realized by low-energy surface fluorine plasma treatment, in which an ultrathin fluorine-doped layer served for surface passivation. Without inserting/capping a foreign layer, this strategy utilized fluorine dopants to both passivate local oxygen vacancies and suppress surface chemisorption. The dual effects have opposite impacts on device current magnitude (by suppressing metal/semiconductor junction leakage and inhibiting surface-chemisorption-induced carrier consumption) but dominate in dark and under illumination, respectively. By means of such unique mechanisms, the simultaneous improvement on dark and photo current characteristics was achieved, leading to the sensitivity enhanced by nearly 1 order of magnitude. Accordingly, the 15 min treated sample exhibited striking competitiveness in terms of comprehensive properties, including a dark current as low as 6 pA, a responsivity of 18.43 A/W, an external quantum efficiency approaching 1 × 104%, a specific detectivity of 2.48 × 1014 Jones, and a solar-blind/UV rejection ratio close to 1 × 105. Furthermore, the response speed was effectively accelerated because of the reduction on metal/semiconductor interface trap states. Our findings provide a facile, economical, and contamination-free surface passivation technique, which unlocks the potential for comprehensively improving the performance of ß-Ga2O3 solar-blind metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors.

Spread of antibiotic resistance genes and microbiota in airborne particulate matter, dust, and human airways in the urban hospital.

Antimicrobial resistance is an increasingly serious threat to public health worldwide. The presence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in human airways and relevant environments has not received significant attention. In this study, abundances of ARGs and microbes from airborne particulate matter, dust, and human airways in a hospital were profiled using high-throughput qPCR and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. More diverse ARGs and microbes in indoor dust and higher levels of ARGs in particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 were observed. Macrolides and aminoglycoside resistance genes were the most abundant ARGs in the airway and environmental samples, respectively. Moreover, the co-occurrences of priority pathogens, ARGs, and mobile genetic elements (MGEs) were shown by the Network analysis. Campylobacter spp. and Staphylococcus spp. positively correlated with fluoroquinolone (vatC-02, mexD) and ß-lactams (blaZ, mecA) resistance genes, respectively. In this regard, based on SourceTracker analysis, inhalable particles contributed to 4.0% to 5.5% of ARGs in human airway samples, suggesting an important exchange between airborne inhalable particles and human commensals. This study may advance knowledge about ARGs in airborne particulate matter and dust associated environments, reveal their potential link between environments and humans, and provide a new sight and fundamental data for ARG risk assessment.