Structural and Compositional Changes in Two Marine Shell Traditional Chinese Medicines: A Comparative Analysis Pre- and Post-Calcination.

BACKGROUND: Arcae concha and Meretricis concha cyclinae concha are two marine shellfish herbs with similar composition and efficacy, which are usually calcined and used clinically. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated variations in the inorganic and organic components of Arcae concha and Meretricis concha cyclinae concha from different production regions, both Arcae concha and Meretricis concha cyclinae concha. The aim was to enhance the understanding of these two types of marine shell traditional Chinese medicine (msTCM) and provide a foundation for their future development and application. METHOD: Spectroscopic techniques, including infrared spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, were used to analyze the calcium carbonate (CaCO3) crystal and trace elements. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to investigate the decomposition process during heating. The proteins were quantified using the BCA protein assay kit. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to classify inorganic elements in the two marine shellfish traditional Chinese medicines. RESULTS: No significant differences among the various production regions. The crystal structure of CaCO3 in the raw products was aragonite, but it transformed into calcite after calcination. The contents of Ca, Na, Sr, and other inorganic elements were highest. The protein content was significantly reduced after calcination. Therefore, these factors cannot accurately reflect the internal quality of TCM, rendering qualitative identification challenging. CaCO3 dissolution in the decoction of Arcae concha and Meretricis concha cyclinae concha increased after calcination, aligning with the clinical application of calcined shell TCM. PCA revealed the inorganic elements in them, indicating that the variation in trace element composition among different drugs leads to differences in their therapeutic focus, which should be considered during usage. CONCLUSION: This study clarified the composition and structure changes of corrugated and clam shell before and after calcining, and laid the foundation for the comprehensive utilization of Marine traditional Chinese medicine. HIGHLIGHTS: These technical representations reveal the differences between raw materials and processed products, which will provide support for the quality control of other shellfish TCMS.

The modern scientific mystery of traditional Chinese medicine processing--take some common traditional Chinese medicine as examples.

The processing of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a unique traditional pharmaceutical technology in China, which is the most important feature that distinguishes Chinese medicine from natural medicine and plant medicine. Since the record in Huangdi Neijing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor), till now, the processing of TCM has experienced more than 2000 years of inheritance, innovation, and development, which is a combination of TCM theory and clinical practice, and plays an extremely important position in the field of TCM. In recent years, as a clinical prescription of TCM, Chinese herbal pieces have played a significant role in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 and exhibited their unique value, and therefore they have become the highlight of China's clinical treatment protocol and provided Chinese experience and wisdom for the international community in the prevention and control of the COVID-19 epidemic. This paper outlines the research progress in the processing of representative TCM in recent years, reviews the mechanism of the related effects of TCM materials after processing, such as changing the drug efficacy and reducing the toxicity, puts forward the integration and application of a variety of new technologies and methods, so as to reveal the modern scientific mystery of the processing technology of TCM.

Emergence of plasmid-mediated high-level tigecycline resistance gene tet(X4) in Enterobacterales from retail aquatic products.

The spread of antimicrobial-resistant microbes and genes in various foods poses a significant threat to public health. Of particular global concern is the plasmid-mediated tigecycline resistance gene tet(X4), which, while identified in various sources, has not hitherto been reported in aquatic products. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and characterization of tigecycline-resistant strains from aquatic products. A total of 73 nonrepetitive seafood samples were purchased from 26 farmers' markets to detect tigecycline-resistant strains. Of these, nine Escherichia coli strains (comprising two ST58, one ST195, ST10, ST48, ST88, ST877, ST1244, ST14462) and one Citrobacter meridianamericanus, recovered from nine (12.33 %, 9/73) seafood samples (fish, n = 7; shrimp, clam and crab, n = 1 respectively), were positive for the tet(X4). Notably, phylogenetic analysis showed that E. coli ST195, a common ST carrying tet(X4), has a close phylogenetic relationship (23∼48 SNPs) with 32 tet(X4)-harboring E. coli ST195 isolates (isolated from pigs, animal foods, vegetable, and humans) deposited in NCBI database. Additionally, E. coli ST58 was closely (2 SNPs) related to one tet(X4)-positive E. coli strain from retail vegetables documented in the NCBI database. Whole genome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis revealed that tet(X4) genes were located on IncX1 (7 E. coli) or hybrid plasmid IncFIA(HI1)/IncHI1B(R27)/IncHI1A (2 E.coli and one C. meridianamericanus). These plasmids displayed high homology with those of plasmids from other sources deposited in GenBank database. These findings underscore the role of epidemic clones and plasmids in driving the dissemination of tet(X4) gene within Enterobacterales of aquatic products origin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of tet(X4)-positive Enterobacterales from aquatic products. The pervasive propagation of tet(X4) gene facilitated by epidemic plasmids and clones across food animals, food products, humans, and the environment presents a serious threat to public health.

l-arginine and l-lysine supplementation to NaCl tenderizes porcine meat by promoting myosin extraction and actomyosin dissociation.

This study investigated the individual and combined effects of l-arginine, l-lysine, and NaCl on the ultrastructure of porcine myofibrils to uncover the mechanism underlying meat tenderization. Arg or Lys alone shortened A-bands and damaged M-lines, while NaCl alone destroyed M- and Z-lines. Overall, Arg and Lys cooperated with NaCl to destroy the myofibrillar ultrastructure. Moreover, these two amino acids conjoined with NaCl to increase myosin solubility, actin band intensity, and the protein concentration of the actomyosin supernatant. However, they decreased the turbidity and particle size of both myosin and actomyosin solutions, and the remaining activities of Ca2+- and Mg2+-ATPase. The current results revealed that Arg/Lys combined with NaCl to extract myosin and dissociate actomyosin, thereby aggravating the destruction of the myofibrillar ultrastructure. The present results provide a good explanation for the previous phenomenon that Arg and Lys cooperated with NaCl to improve meat tenderness.

Multielement simultaneous quantitative analysis of trace elements in stainless steel via full spectrum laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instruments are increasingly recognized as valuable tools for detecting trace metal elements due to their simplicity, rapid detection, and ability to perform simultaneous multi-element analysis. Traditional LIBS modeling often relies on empirical or machine learning-based feature band selection to establish quantitative models. In this study, we introduce a novel approach-simultaneous multi-element quantitative analysis based on the entire spectrum, which enhances model establishment efficiency and leverages the advantages of LIBS. By logarithmically processing the spectra and quantifying the cognitive uncertainty of the model, we achieved remarkable predictive performance (R2) for trace elements Mn, Mo, Cr, and Cu (0.9876, 0.9879, 0.9891, and 0.9841, respectively) in stainless steel. Our multi-element model shares features and parameters during the learning process, effectively mitigating the impact of matrix effects and self-absorption. Additionally, we introduce a cognitive error term to quantify the cognitive uncertainty of the model. The results suggest that our approach has significant potential in the quantitative analysis of trace elements, providing a reliable data processing method for efficient and accurate multi-task analysis in LIBS. This methodology holds promising applications in the field of LIBS quantitative analysis.

Native Approach to Controlled-Z Gates in Inductively Coupled Fluxonium Qubits.

The fluxonium qubits have emerged as a promising platform for gate-based quantum information processing. However, their extraordinary protection against charge fluctuations comes at a cost: when coupled capacitively, the qubit-qubit interactions are restricted to XX interactions. Consequently, effective ZZ or XZ interactions are only constructed either by temporarily populating higher-energy states, or by exploiting perturbative effects under microwave driving. Instead, we propose and demonstrate an inductive coupling scheme, which offers a wide selection of native qubit-qubit interactions for fluxonium. In particular, we leverage a built-in, flux-controlled ZZ interaction to perform qubit entanglement. To combat the increased flux-noise-induced dephasing away from the flux-insensitive position, we use a continuous version of the dynamical decoupling scheme to perform noise filtering. Combining these, we demonstrate a 20 ns controlled-z gate with a mean fidelity of 99.53%. More than confirming the efficacy of our gate scheme, this high-fidelity result also reveals a promising but rarely explored parameter space uniquely suitable for gate operations between fluxonium qubits.

Tuning Reactive Crystallization Pathways for Integrated CO2 Capture, Conversion, and Storage via Mineralization.

ConspectusAchieving carbon neutrality requires realizing scalable advances in energy- and material-efficient pathways to capture, convert, store, and remove anthropogenic CO2 emission in air and flue gas while cogenerating multiple high-value products. To this end, earth-abundant Ca- and Mg-bearing alkaline resources can be harnessed to cogenerate Ca- and Mg-hydroxide, silica, H2, O2, and a leachate bearing high-value metals in an electrochemical approach with the in situ generation of a pH gradient, which is a significant departure from existing pH-swing-based approaches. To accelerate CO2 capture and mineralization, CO2 in dilute sources is captured using solvents to produce CO2-loaded solvents. CO2-loaded solvents are reacted Ca- and Mg-bearing hydroxides to produce Ca- and Mg-carbonates while regenerating the solvents. These carbonates can be used as a temporary or permanent store of CO2 emissions. When carbonates are used as a temporary store of CO2 emissions, electrochemical sorbent regeneration pathways can be harnessed to produce high-purity CO2 while regenerating Ca- and Mg-hydroxide and coproducing H2 and O2. Figure 1 is a schematic representation of this integrated approach.Tuning the molecular-scale and nanoscale interactions underlying these reactive crystallization mechanisms for carbon transformations is crucial for achieving kinetic, chemical, and morphological controls over these pathways. To this end, the feasibility of (i) crystallizing Ca- and Mg-hydroxide during the electrochemical desilication of earth-abundant alkaline industrial residues, (ii) accelerating the conversion of Ca- and Mg-carbonates for temporary or permanent carbon storage by harnessing regenerable solvents, and (iii) regenerating Ca- and Mg-hydroxide while coproducing high-purity CO2, O2, and H2 electrochemically is established.Evidence of the fractionation of heterogeneous slag to coproduce silica, Ca- and Mg-hydroxide, and a leachate bearing metals during electrochemical desilication provides the basis for further tuning the physicochemical parameters to improve the energy and material efficiency of these pathways. To address the slow kinetics of CO2 capture and mineralization starting from ultradilute emissions, reactive capture pathways that harness solvents such as Na-glycinate are shown to be effective. The extents of carbon mineralization of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 are 97% and 78% using CO2-loaded Na-glycinate upon reacting for 3 h at 90 °C. During the regeneration of Ca- and Mg-hydroxide and high-purity CO2 from carbonate sources, charge efficiencies of as high as 95% were observed for the dissolution of MgCO3 and CaCO3 while stirring at 100 rpm. Higher yields of Mg(OH)2 are observed compared to that for Ca(OH)2 during sorbent regeneration due to the lower solubility of Mg(OH)2. These findings provide the scientific basis for further tuning these reactive crystallization pathways for closing material and carbon cycles to advance a sustainable climate, energy, and environmental future.

Myofibrillar proteins' intermolecular interaction weakening and degradation: Are they mainly responsible for the tenderization of meat containing l-arginine, l-lysine, or/and NaCl?

This study explored the effects of l-arginine, l-lysine, and NaCl alone and in combination on the tenderness of porcine meat. Arg, Lys, and NaCl alone improved the tenderness, decreased the cooking loss, and increased the myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) of porcine meat; Both Arg and Lys cooperated with NaCl to better achieve this effect. Furthermore, Arg/Lys collaborated with NaCl to increase muscle fiber swelling and moisture content of the meat and promoted the extraction of main myofibrillar proteins. FT-IR revealed that Arg, Lys, or NaCl alone or in combination caused changes in protein-water interactions. Western blotting revealed varying degrees of meat protein degradation in all cases, but the results did not well coincide with those of shear force and the MFI. Therefore, the weakening of intermolecular forces between myofibrillar proteins was considered the main reason for meat tenderization under the present study conditions.

Logical quantum processor based on reconfigurable atom arrays.

Suppressing errors is the central challenge for useful quantum computing1, requiring quantum error correction (QEC)2-6 for large-scale processing. However, the overhead in the realization of error-corrected 'logical' qubits, in which information is encoded across many physical qubits for redundancy2-4, poses substantial challenges to large-scale logical quantum computing. Here we report the realization of a programmable quantum processor based on encoded logical qubits operating with up to 280 physical qubits. Using logical-level control and a zoned architecture in reconfigurable neutral-atom arrays7, our system combines high two-qubit gate fidelities8, arbitrary connectivity7,9, as well as fully programmable single-qubit rotations and mid-circuit readout10-15. Operating this logical processor with various types of encoding, we demonstrate improvement of a two-qubit logic gate by scaling surface-code6 distance from d = 3 to d = 7, preparation of colour-code qubits with break-even fidelities5, fault-tolerant creation of logical Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states and feedforward entanglement teleportation, as well as operation of 40 colour-code qubits. Finally, using 3D [[8,3,2]] code blocks16,17, we realize computationally complex sampling circuits18 with up to 48 logical qubits entangled with hypercube connectivity19 with 228 logical two-qubit gates and 48 logical CCZ gates20. We find that this logical encoding substantially improves algorithmic performance with error detection, outperforming physical-qubit fidelities at both cross-entropy benchmarking and quantum simulations of fast scrambling21,22. These results herald the advent of early error-corrected quantum computation and chart a path towards large-scale logical processors.

Infusing phytate-based biomass flame retardants into the cellulose lumens of Chinese fir wood attains superior flame retardant efficacy.

To be suitable for certain construction and furniture applications, wood must be treated with a flame retardant and impregnating flame retardants into the cellulose lumens of wood is an effective flame retardant method. Phytic acid, the main storage form of phosphorus in various plant tissues, is an inexpensive, and non-toxic biomaterial that shows potential applications as an environmentally friendly bio-based flame retardant. In this study, phytic acid and zinc phytate were used to impregnate delignified wood under vacuum and pressure, which greatly enhanced the flame retardancy and smoke suppression properties of Chinese fir, while still maintaining its original texture. Phytic acid and zinc phytate were hydrogen-bonded to cellulose in wood. Phytic acid and zinc phytate were hydrogen-bonded to cellulose in wood. The results showed that the total heat release (THR) of Chinese fir treated with zinc phytate decreased from 55.66 MJ/m2 to 5.90 MJ/m2, and a compact carbonized protective layer was quickly formed on the surface of Chinese fir after ignition. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the char yield of Chinese fir treated by the flame retardant was 177.6 % higher than that of untreated wood. This study provides an efficient, sustainable, and economical method to prepare Chinese fir with excellent flame retardancy and thermal insulation performance.

Occurrence and characterization of NDM-5-producing Escherichia coli from retail eggs.

The New Delhi Metallo-ß-lactamase (NDM) producing Enterobacterales has been detected from diverse sources but has rarely been reported in retail eggs. In this study, 144 eggshell and 96 egg content samples were collected in 2022 from Guangdong province and were screened for NDM-producing strains. Four Escherichia coli strains (ST3014, ST10, ST1485, and ST14747) recovered from two (1.39%, 2 of 144) eggshells and two (2.08%, 2 of 96) egg content samples were identified as blaNDM-5-positive strains. Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing and conjugation assays revealed that the blaNDM-5 gene was carried by IncX3 (n = 1), IncI1 (n = 1), and IncHI2 (n = 2). The IncI1-plasmid-carrying blaNDM-5 displayed high homology with one plasmid pEC6563-NDM5 from the human clinic, while the IncHI2 plasmid harboring blaNDM-5 shared highly similar structures with plasmids of animal origin. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the identification of blaNDM-5-positive bacteria in retail eggs. NDM-producing E. coli could be transmitted to humans by the consumption of eggs or direct contact, which could pose a potential threat to human health.

Density Functional Theory and Raman Spectroscopy Studies of Adsorption Sites of Au Nanoparticles with Alectinib.

Alectinib is an ALK tyrosine kinase inhibitor, which is mainly used in patients with crizotinib-resistant nonsmall cell lung cancer. Alectinib has attracted much clinical attention for its longest progression-free survival time and the best therapeutic effect. The chemical adsorption of Au nanoclusters (AuNPs) with alectinib molecules is studied by density functional theory (DFT) and surface-enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy (SERS) experiments. DFT/B3LYP-D3/6-311G** was used for optimization and vibration analysis of alectinib-Au6 complexes, as well as molecular electrostatic potential, frontier molecular orbital, and electro-optic-based charge transfer descriptors. Comparing the results of the DFT theory and SERS experiment, alectinib and AuNPs can form Au-N6 bonds primarily through chemical adsorption of N6 atoms, and the experimental results showed that the enhancement factor (EFCHEM) could reach 4.27. The results provide a theoretical basis for exploring the mechanism of chemical enhancement between AuNPs and alectinib.

Unraveling the parameters and biological mechanisms of CO2 laser therapy for acute pain relief.

Acute pain-related pathology is a significant challenge in clinical practice, and the limitations of traditional pain-relief drugs have made it necessary to explore alternative approaches. Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy using CO2 laser has emerged as a promising option. In this study, we aimed to identify the optimal parameters of CO2 laser irradiation for acute pain relief through in vivo and in vitro experiments. First, we validated the laser intensity used in this study through bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) experiments to ensure it will not adversely affect stem cell viability and morphology. Then we conducted a detailed evaluation of the duty cycle and frequency of CO2 laser by the hot plate and formalin test. Results showed a duty cycle of 3% and a frequency of 25 kHz produced the best outcomes. Additionally, we investigated the potential mechanisms underlying the effects of CO2 laser by immunohistochemical staining, and found evidence to suggest that the opioid receptor may be involved in its analgesic effect. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the optimal parameters and underlying mechanisms of CO2 laser therapy for effective pain relief, thereby paving the way for future clinical applications.

Engineered domain-inlaid Nme2Cas9 adenine base editors with increased on-target DNA editing and targeting scope.

BACKGROUND: Nme2ABE8e has been constructed and characterized as a compact, accurate adenine base editor with a less restrictive dinucleotide protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM: N4CC) but low editing efficiency at challenging loci in human cells. Here, we engineered a subset of domain-inlaid Nme2Cas9 base editors to bring the deaminase domain closer to the nontarget strand to improve editing efficiency. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that Nme2ABE8e-797 with adenine deaminase inserted between amino acids 797 and 798 has a significantly increased editing efficiency with a wide editing window ranging from 4 to 18 bases in mammalian cells, especially at the sites that were difficult to edit by Nme2ABE8e. In addition, by swapping the PAM-interacting domain of Nme2ABE8e-797 with that of SmuCas9 or introducing point mutations of eNme2-C in Nme2ABE8e-797, we created Nme2ABE8e-797Smu and Nme2ABE8e-797-C, respectively, which exhibited robust activities at a wide range of sites with N4CN PAMs in human cells. Moreover, the modified domain-inlaid Nme2ABE8e can efficiently restore or install disease-related loci in Neuro-2a cells and mice. CONCLUSIONS: These novel Nme2ABE8es with increased on-target DNA editing and expanded PAM compatibility will expand the base editing toolset for efficient gene modification and therapeutic applications.

Novel insights into IL-37: an anti-inflammatory cytokine with emerging roles in anti-cancer process.

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) is a newly discovered member of IL-1 family. The cytokine was proved to have extensive protective effects in infectious diseases, allergic diseases, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases and tumors since its discovery. IL-37 was mainly produced by immune and some non-immune cells in response to inflammatory stimulus. The IL-37 precursors can convert into the mature forms after caspase-1 cleavage and activation intracellularly, and then bind to Smad-3 and transfer to the nucleus to inhibit the production and functions of proinflammatory cytokines; extracellularly, IL-37 binds to cell surface receptors to form IL-37/IL-18Rα/IL-1R8 complex to exert immunosuppressive function via inhibiting/activating multiple signal pathways. In addition, IL-37 can attenuate the pro-inflammatory effect of IL-18 through directly or forming an IL-37/IL-18BP/IL-18Rß complex. Therefore, IL-37 has the ability to suppress innate and acquired immunity of the host, and effectively control inflammatory stimulation, which was considered as a new hallmark of cancer. Specifically, it is concluded that IL-37 can inhibit the growth and migration of tumor cells, prohibit angiogenesis and mediate the immunoregulation in tumor microenvironment, so as to exert effective anti-tumor effects. Importantly, latest studies also showed that IL-37 may be a novel therapeutic target for cancer monitoring. In this review, we summarize the immunoregulation roles and mechanisms of IL-37 in anti-tumor process, and discuss its progress so far and potential as tumor immunotherapy.

Development of a highly efficient prime editor system in mice and rabbits.

The recently developed prime-editing (PE) technique is more precise than previously available techniques and permits base-to-base conversion, replacement, and insertions and deletions in the genome. However, previous reports show that the efficiency of prime editing is insufficient to produce genome-edited animals. In fact, prime-guide RNA (pegRNA) designs have posed a challenge in achieving favorable editing efficiency. Here, we designed prime binding sites (PBS) with a melting temperature (Tm) of 42 °C, leading to optimal performance in cells, and we found that the optimal Tm was affected by the culture temperature. In addition, the ePE3max system was developed by updating the PE architecture to PEmax and expressing engineered pegRNA (epegRNA) based on the original PE3 system. The updated ePE3max system can efficiently induce gene editing in mouse and rabbit embryos. Furthermore, we successfully generated a Hoxd13 (c. 671 G > T) mutation in mice and a Tyr (c. 572 del) mutation in rabbits by ePE3max. Overall, the editing efficiency of modified ePE3max systems is superior to that of the original PE3 system in producing genome-edited animals, which can serve as an effective and versatile genome-editing tool for precise genome modification in animal models.

Small-sample stacking model for qualitative analysis of aluminum alloys based on femtosecond laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Material characterization using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) often relies on extensive data for effective analysis. However, data acquisition can be challenging, and the high dimensionality of raw spectral data combined with a large-scale sample dataset can strain computational resources. In this study, we propose a small sample size stacking model based on femtosecond LIBS to achieve accurate qualitative analysis of aluminum alloys. The proposed three-layer stacking algorithm performs data reconstruction and feature extraction to enhance the analysis. In the first layer, random forest spectral feature selection and specific spectral line spreading are employed to reconstruct the data. The second layer utilizes three heterogeneous classifiers to extract features from the reconstructed spectra in different feature spaces, generating second-level reconstructed data. Finally, the third layer utilizes the reconstructed dataset for qualitative prediction. Results indicate that the Stacking algorithm outperforms traditional methods such as k-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF), including those combined with principal component analysis (PCA). The Stacking algorithm achieves an impressive 100% recognition rate in classification, with Accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 scores reaching 1.0. Moreover, as the number of samples decreases, the gap between the recognition accuracy of the Stacking algorithm and traditional approaches widens. For instance, using only 15 spectra for training, the Stacking algorithm achieves a recognition accuracy of 96.47%, significantly surpassing the improved RF's accuracy of 71.76%. Notably, the model demonstrates strong robustness compared to traditional modeling approaches, and the qualitative prediction error remains consistently below 5%. These findings underscore the model's enhanced generalization ability and higher prediction accuracy in small sample machine learning. This research contributes significantly to improving the applicability of the LIBS technique for fast detection and analysis of small samples. It provides valuable insights into the development of effective methodologies for material characterization, paving the way for advancements in the field.

Elevation of Metrnß and Its Association with Disease Activity in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an auto-immune disease, the pathogenesis of which remains to be fully addressed. Metrnß is a novel cytokine involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory disease, but its regulatory roles in SLE are unclear. We aimed to comprehensively investigate the clinical value of Metrnß in SLE. A massive elevation of circulating Metrnß levels was observed in SLE, and patients with an active phase displayed higher Metrnß concentrations than those with inactive phases. Additionally, we found that Metrnß expression was positively correlated with clinical indicators of SLE. Longitudinal cytokine and chemokine profiles revealed a disturbed immune response in SLE, with high activity profiles displayed severe pathogenic inflammation, and a positive correlation of the serum Metrnß with CXCL9, IL10, IL18 and IL1RA was observed as well. Moreover, Metrnß expressions exhibited an inverse correlation with Treg and B10. Of note, a significant decrease of ILC2 was found in SLE, and there was a negative correlation of Metrnß with ILC2 as well. Further ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) for Metrnß was 0.8250 (95% CI: 0.7379-0.9121), with a cutoff value of 1131 pg/mL to effectively distinguish SLE patients from healthy controls. Our study herein demonstrated for the first time that Metrnß values were increased and were immunologically correlated with SLE activity, which could be utilized as an alternative biomarker for the early identification and predicting of the immuno-response of SLE.

Effects of Au6 and Au20 Adsorption Sites of Cyromazine-Au Complexes by Raman Spectroscopy and Density Functional Theory.

Cyromazine, when used as an insect growth regulator and low-toxicity insecticide, may degrade into melamine and pose a potential threat to the environment and soil health, which has thus attracted extensive research on eliminating such a harmful effect. In this paper, density functional theory (DFT)/LC-BLYP/6-311G(d,p) is used to optimize the geometric structure and analyze the vibration of cyromazine. The DFT/LC-BLYP/def2-SVP is used for the cyromazine-Au complex optimization and vibration analysis. The molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), vibration frequency, electrophilicity-based charge transfer (ECT) descriptor, binding energy (BE), polarizability, normal Raman spectroscopy (NRS), and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of cyromazine adsorbing on Au6 and Au20 are calculated. The study of the chemical enhancement mechanism of SERS of cyromazine at different adsorption sites of Au6 or Au20 confirms the existence of a charge transfer between cyclopromazine and Au6 and Au20, which can adsorb and form stable cyromazine-Au complexes. The results show that N2, H13, and N4 are the adsorption sites of Au6 and Au20. The Raman spectra of the cyromazine-Au complex can be selectively enhanced with a factor up to 9.07. Compared with those of cyromazine-Au6, the Raman spectra of cyromazine-Au20 are enhanced more significantly.