Pipermotuoense, a new species of Piperaceae from Xizang, China.

Pipermotuoense X.W.Qin, F.Su & C.Y.Hao, a new species of Piperaceae from Xizang, China, is described and illustrated in this paper. The new species resembles P.yinkiangense and P.anisotis, but it can be readily distinguished from the compared species by several characteristics. Gonophyll leaves are chartaceous and the leaf secondary vein count is 7-9, with the outermost pair being very weak when there are nine veins. Additionally, the apical pair arises 2-4 cm above the base and the leaf base is asymmetrical, with bilateral petioles that cling and heal together. Pistillate floral bracts are sessile, with 3, 4 or 5 stigmas. The description of the new species includes photographs, detailed descriptions, notes on etymology, distribution and habitat, as well as comparisons with morphologically similar species.

Sleep deprivation affects interference control: A diffusion model analysis.

Previous studies suggest that interference control may be unaffected by sleep deprivation based on the unchanged interference effects (reaction time [RT] differences between incongruent and congruent conditions), while ignoring the overall slower RTs after sleep deprivation. In the present study, we interpreted these results from a new angle using a variant of diffusion model, diffusion model for conflict tasks (DMC), and investigated whether and how interference control is affected by sleep deprivation. Mathematical derivations and model simulations showed that unchanged task-irrelevant information processing (i.e., unaffected interference control) may not lead to the observed unchanged interference effects when considering the overall slower RTs after sleep deprivation (due to either decreased drift rate of task-relevant information or increased decision boundary). Therefore, the unchanged interference effects do not necessarily indicate unchanged interference control. We then conducted a Simon task following one night of sleep deprivation or normal sleep, and fitted the DMC to the data. Experimental results showed that the Simon effect was reversed when most of the trials were incongruent, indicating that participants used learned spatially incompatible stimulus-response associations to predict responses. However, the Simon effects in both mean RTs and RT distributions were not significantly modulated by sleep deprivation. Model fits showed that the drift rate of task-relevant information decreased and the time-to-peak of task-irrelevant activation increased after sleep deprivation. These results suggest that central information processing was degraded after sleep loss, and most importantly, task-irrelevant activation increased after sleep deprivation as interference control was impaired. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Thiophenpiperazine amide derivatives as new dual MOR and σ1R ligands for the treatment of pain.

A new series of thiophenpiperazine amide derivatives as potent dual ligands for the µ-opioid (MOR) and sigma-1 (σ1R) receptors are reported. Compound 23 exhibited good affinity to σ1R (Ki = 44.7 ± 7.05 nM) and high selectivity to σ2R. Furthermore, Compound 23 exerted MOR agonism and σ1R antagonism and potent analgesic activity in animal moldes (the abdominal constriction test (ED50 = 3.83 mg/kg) and carrageenan-induced inflammatory hyperalgesia model (ED50 = 5.23 mg/kg)). We obtained new dual ligands that might serve as starting points for preparing targeted tools. Furthermore, 23 may be a useful chemical probe for understanding more fully analgesic effects associated with MOR agonism and σ1R antagonism.

Perturbation of lipid metabolism in 3T3-L1 at different stages of preadipocyte differentiation and new insights into the association between changed metabolites and adipogenesis promoted by TBBPA or TBBPS.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and tetrabromobisphenol S (TBBPS) are widely distributed brominated flame retardants. While TBBPA has been demonstrated to stimulate adipogenesis, TBBPS is also under suspicion for potentially inducing comparable effects. In this study, we conducted a non-targeted metabolomics to examine the metabolic changes in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to an environmentally relevant dose of TBBPA or TBBPS. Our findings revealed that 0.1 µM of both TBBPA and TBBPS promoted the adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. Multivariate analysis showed significant increases in glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and steroids relative levels in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to TBBPA or TBBPS at the final stage of preadipocyte differentiation. Metabolites set composed of glycerophospholipids was found to be highly effective predictors of adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells exposed to TBBPA or TBBPS (revealed from the receiver operating characteristic curve with an area under curve > 0.90). The results from metabolite set enrichment analysis suggested both TBBPA and TBBPS exposures significantly perturbed steroid biosynthesis in adipocytes. Moreover, TBBPS additionally disrupted the sphingolipid metabolism in the adipocytes. Our study presents new insights into the obesogenic effects of TBBPS and provides valuable information about the metabolites associated with adipogenesis induced by TBBPA or TBBPS.

Staurantherafloribunda, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Yunnan, China.

Staurantherafloribunda F.Su, C.Y.Hao & K.Tan, a new species of Gesneriaceae from Yunnan, China, is described and illustrated here. It is morphologically similar to S.grandifolia Benth. in the shape of corolla, stigma, leaves and the number of stamens. However, it can be readily distinguished from the compared species by its dense cymes, leaf indumentum, lack of a corolla spur, calyx colour and stamen shape. The description of the new species, photographs, detailed descriptions, notes on etymology, distribution and habitat, as well as comparisons with morphologically similar species, are provided.

Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is superior to conventional moist dressings in wound bed preparation for diabetic foot ulcers: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) and alginate dressings on wound bed preparation prior to split thickness skin graft (STSG) surgery for patients with chronic diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). METHODS: Between September 2022 and March 2023, we completed a randomized controlled trial in Nanjing First Hospital and PLA 454 Hospital. Patients were divided into 2 groups: i) the NPWT group (with vacuum-assisted closure, n=50); ii) the control group (with alginates dressings, n=50). Once DFU wound was filled with healthy granulation tissues, STSG surgery was performed. The time to STSG surgery was regarded as the primary outcome. The survival rates of skin graft, the wound blood perfusion, the wound neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) formation, and polarization of M1 and M2 macrophages in DFU wounds were regarded ad secondary outcomes. RESULTS: Patients in the NPWT group had less time to STSG surgery than the control group. The patients in the NPWT group had prominently increased survival rates of skin graft, increased wound blood perfusion, and decreased NET formation in comparison with the control group. The macrophages in DFU wounds switched from M1 to M2 phenotype in the NPWT group. CONCLUSION: Negative pressure wound therapy is superior to conventional moist dressings in wound bed preparation prior to STSG surgery for patients with chronic DFUs.

How the time-of-day affects the EEG signatures of vigilance fluctuation.

Previous research suggested the homeostatic effect on the top-down control system as a major factor for daytime vigilance decrement, yet how it alters the cognitive processes of vigilance remains unclear. Using EEG, the current study measured the vigilance of 28 participants under three states: the morning, the midafternoon after napping and no-nap. The drift-diffusion model was applied to decompose vigilant reaction time into decision and non-decision components. From morning to midafternoon, vigilance declined during sustained wakefulness, but remained stable after midday napping. Increased sleep pressure negatively affected decision time and drift rate, but did not significantly alter the non-decision process. Frontocentral N2 amplitude decreased from morning to no-nap afternoon, associated with slowing decision time. In contrast, parietal P3 had no diurnal alterations during sustained wakefulness, but enhanced after napping. Pre-stimulus parietooccipital alpha power enhanced under high sleep pressure relative to low, accompanied by more lapses in no-nap vs. post-napping conditions. The homeostasis effect is a major contributor to daily vigilance fluctuation, specifically targeting top-down control processes during the pre-stimulus and decision-making stages. Under the influence of sleep homeostasis, the speed of decision-making declines with degradation in target monitoring from morning to afternoon, leading to post-noon vigilance decrement.

Predicting prognosis, immunotherapy and distinguishing cold and hot tumors in clear cell renal cell carcinoma based on anoikis-related lncRNAs.

Background: Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most frequently occurring malignant tumor within the kidney cancer subtype. It has low sensitivity to traditional radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the optimal treatment for localized ccRCC has been surgical resection, but even with complete resection the tumor will be eventually developed into metastatic disease in up to 40% of localized ccRCC. For this reason, it is crucial to find early diagnostic and treatment markers for ccRCC. Methods: We obtained anoikis-related genes (ANRGs) integrated from Genecards and Harmonizome dataset. The anoikis-related risk model was constructed based on 12 anoikis-related lncRNAs (ARlncRNAs) and verified by principal component analysis (PCA), Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and T-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), and the role of the risk score in ccRCC immune cell infiltration, immune checkpoint expression levels, and drug sensitivity was evaluated by various algorithms. Additionally, we divided patients based on ARlncRNAs into cold and hot tumor clusters using the ConsensusClusterPlus (CC) package. Results: The AUC of risk score was the highest among various factors, including age, gender, and stage, indicating that the model we built to predict survival was more accurate than the other clinical features. There was greater sensitivity to targeted drugs like Axitinib, Pazopanib, and Sunitinib in the high-risk group, as well as immunotherapy drugs. This shows that the risk-scoring model can accurately identify candidates for ccRCC immunotherapy and targeted therapy. Furthermore, our results suggest that cluster 1 is equivalent to hot tumors with enhanced sensitivity to immunotherapy drugs. Conclusion: Collectively, we developed a risk score model based on 12 prognostic lncRNAs, expected to become a new tool for evaluating the prognosis of patients with ccRCC, providing different immunotherapy strategies by screening for hot and cold tumors.

The First-Night Effect on the Instability of Stage N2: Evidence from the Activity of the Central and Autonomic Nervous Systems.

A series of studies have suggested that stage N2 is vulnerable and strongly affected by the first-night effect (FNE). However, the neurophysiological mechanism underlying the vulnerability of stage N2 of the FNE has not been well examined. A total of 17 healthy adults (11 women and 6 men, mean age: 21.59 ± 2.12) underwent two nights of polysomnogram recordings in the sleep laboratory. We analyzed sleep structure and central and autonomic nervous system activity during stage N2 and applied the electroencephalographic (EEG) activation index (beta/delta power ratio) and heart rate variability to reflect changes in central and autonomic nervous system activity caused by the FNE. Correlation analyses were performed between EEG activation and heart rate variability. The results showed that EEG activation and high-frequency heart rate variability increased on the adaptation night (Night 1). Importantly, EEG activation was significantly associated with the percentage of stage N1, and the correlation between EEG activation and high-frequency heart rate variability decreased due to the FNE. These findings indicate that the FNE affects the instability of stage N2 by increasing central nervous system activity and uncoupling the activity between the central and autonomic nervous systems.

Why Do People Gain Belly Fat in Rural Areas? A Study of Urinary Metal(loid)s and Abdominal Obesity in China.

Obesity is prevalent in rural areas of China, and there are inconsistent findings regarding the association between metal(loid) exposure and the risk of obesity. Abdominal obesity (AOB), which reflects visceral fat abnormity, is a crucial factor in studying obesity-related diseases. We conducted a study measuring 20 urinary metal(loid)s, 13 health indicators, and the waist circumference (WC) in 1849 participants from 10 rural areas of China to investigate their relationships. In the single exposure models, we found that urinary chromium (Cr) was significantly associated with the odds of having AOB [adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.81 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.24, 2.60)]. In the mixture exposure models, urinary Cr consistently emerged as the top contributor to AOB, while the overall effect of mixed metal(loid)s was positive toward the odds of having AOB [adjusted OR: 1.33 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.77)], as revealed from the quantile g-computation model. After adjusting for the effects of other metal(loid)s, we found that the elevation of apolipoprotein B and systolic blood pressure significantly mediated the association between urinary Cr and the odds of having AOB by 9.7 and 19.4%, respectively. Our results suggest that exposure to metal(loid)s is a key factor contributing to the prevalence of AOB and WC gain in rural areas of China.

Recent advances in the development of HIPK2 inhibitors as anti-renal fibrosis agents.

HIPK2 is a serine/threonine kinase, located in the nucleus, that was initially found to be able to phosphorylate p53 at Ser46 to promote apoptosis; it has been widely studied. It has been reported that HIPK2 can simultaneously regulate TGF-ß/Smad3, Wnt/ß-catenin, Notch and NF-κB pathways in the kidney to initiate inflammation and fibrosis, resulting in the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Therefore, inhibition of HIPK2 is strongly considered an effective method for the treatment of CKD. In brief, this review summarizes the progress of HIPK2 in CKD as well as the reported HIPK2 inhibitors and their role in different CKD models.

Effect of homeostatic pressure on daytime vigilance performance: Evidence from behaviour and resting-state EEG.

Vigilance is highly sensitive to the time-of-day effect and goes through the daytime trough during the period of the post-noon dip. A midday nap could maintain individuals' vigilance at an optimal level. Thus, homeostatic sleep pressure is one of the main reasons for the post-noon dip in daytime vigilance. The current study focussed on the role of homeostatic sleep pressure in the diurnal variation of vigilance performance with normal circadian rhythms and the corresponding neural basis. With 34 healthy adults, we recorded the resting-state electroencephalogram activities and the following vigilance performance measured by psychomotor vigilance test in the morning, the no-nap mid afternoon, and the nap mid afternoon. The circadian process was controlled by measuring vigilance and resting-state electroencephalogram activities at the same time point in the nap and no-nap conditions. Homeostatic sleep pressure accumulated from morning to mid afternoon induced the declined vigilance performance and a global increase in resting-state delta, theta, alpha, and beta1 bands power, and a local increase in beta2 band power in the central region. Furthermore, the more the spontaneous beta2 power increased, the less vigilance declined from morning to mid afternoon. The current findings suggest that homeostatic sleep pressure increased cortical excitability but decreased cortical communication efficiency from morning to mid afternoon. In addition, the activity of the high beta waves probably reflected the compensatory effort to counteract the negative impact of the low arousal state on the following vigilance task by performing more action preparation in the no-nap afternoon.

Early detection of the initial stages of LED light-triggered non-alcoholic fatty liver disease by wax physisorption kinetics-Fourier transform infrared imaging.

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), particularly in the blue waveform range, are regarded as a major source of circadian rhythm dysregulation. A circadian rhythm dysregulation induced by blue LEDs is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Hepatocellular accumulation of lipids is a key event in the early stages of NAFLD. Kupffer cells (KCs) have been reported to be lost in the early onset of NAFLD followed by an inflammatory reaction that alters the liver response to lipid overload. This study focused on the detection of the initial stages (subpathological stages) of LED light-triggered NAFLD. Mice were exposed to either blue or white LED irradiation for 44 weeks. Synchrotron radiation-based Fourier-transform infrared microspectroscopy (SR-FTIRM) and wax physisorption kinetic-Fourier transform infrared (WPK-FTIR) imaging were used to evaluate the ratio of lipid to protein and the glycosylation of glycoprotein, respectively. Immunohistopathological studies on KCs and circadian-related proteins were performed. Although liver biopsy showed normal pathology, an SR-FTIRM study revealed a high hepatic lipid-to-protein ratio after receiving LED illumination. The results of WPK-FTIR demonstrated that a high inflammation index was found in the high irradiance of the blue LED illumnation group. These groups showed a decrease in KC number and an increase in Bmal1 and Reverbα circadian protein expression. These findings provide explanations for the reduction of KCs without subsequent inflammation. A significant reduction of Per2 and Cry1 expression is correlated with the findings of WPK-FTIR imaging. WPK-FTIR is a sensitive method for detecting initiative stages of NAFLD induced by long-term blue LED illumination.

One night of 10-h sleep restores vigilance after total sleep deprivation: the role of delta and theta power during recovery sleep.

A series of studies have demonstrated that impaired vigilance performance caused by total sleep deprivation could restore to baseline when recovery sleep is longer than the habitual sleep. However, it is unclear which factors on the recovery night affected the restoration of vigilance performance impaired by sleep deprivation. 22 participant's sleep electroencephalograms were recorded with polysomnography in 8-h baseline sleep and one-night 10-h recovery sleep following 36-h sleep deprivation. Participants completed a 10-min psychomotor vigilance task and subjective ratings after baseline and recovery sleep the following day. Objective vigilance and subjective ratings were impaired by sleep deprivation and recovered to baseline after one-night 10-h recovery sleep. Compared with baseline sleep, sleep depth increased with enhanced delta and theta power density, and sleep duration was also prolonged during recovery sleep. The vigilance performance difference between recovery and baseline sleep was taken as a behavioral index of the restoration of vigilance. The restoration of vigilance was correlated with the delta and theta power density of stage N3 in the frontal and central region during the recovery sleep. These findings indicated that one-night 10-h recovery sleep could restore the impaired objective vigilance and subjective ratings caused by sleep deprivation. The recuperative effect of vigilance relies on individual differences in sleep intensity. Individuals with higher sleep intensity in recovery sleep obtained better vigilance recovery.

The evolution of mental health related policies in China: A bibliometric analysis, 1987-2020.

Background: Since 1987, the Chinese government has promoted public mental health by continuously implementing mental health related policies. This research attempts to reveal the distribution and characteristics of mental health related policies. In addition, it can help stakeholders evaluate whether the environment for policy implementation has improved and identify key points in the development of the overall mental health system. Methods: We used a bibliometric approach to analyze the evolution of mental health related policies in China from 1987 to 2020. A total of 239 mental health related policies were collected from Beida Fabao and official Internet websites of governmental departments. Co-wording, social networks, and citation analysis were applied to explore the evolutionary features of such policies. Results: The evolution of policy development showed that the number of mental health related policies in China has been increasing and their content has been enriched. Over time, mental health related policies not only gradually expanded its focus on common mental disorders, but also included an increasing number of keywords related to service provision, organization and administration. However, most policies were implemented independently by separate agencies and the number of policies jointly implemented by different agencies only accounted for 32.64% of all the policies implemented. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is at the core of the collaborative network associated with implementing mental health related policies in China. Conclusion: The environment associated with the implementation of mental health related policies in China is gradually improving. However, cross-sector collaboration among different agencies needs to be strengthened and financial support for related resources needs more attention. A clear division of responsibilities among various agencies and a sustainable financing mechanism are essential to the development and implementation of mental health related policies.

Thermal and Rheological Performances Evaluation of a Modified Biopolymer for Fracturing Fluid System.

Developing an efficient fracturing fluid system is an enduring hot topic in the petrochemical industries, especially regarding the exploitation of limited oil. Biopolymers, especially polysaccharides (e.g., konjac gum, guar gum), are widely applied as fracturing fluids in fracturing as a result of their advantages. Herein, we propose an easy method of modifying konjac gum (KGM) using isopropanol, sodium hydroxide, and chloroacetic acid to obtain modified konjac glum (MKGM). The MKGM and KGM gels were also obtained by using the self-prepared organic titanium high-temperature stabilizer and organic borate cross-linker. The prepared MKGM was characterized by multiscale techniques, including attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and rheology properties. The ATR-FTIR results showed that the etherification modification reaction occurred as designed. The XRD results showed that the regularity of KGM was destroyed after modification. The TGA and DSC results showed that the thermal stability improved. Rheology measurements illustrated that the temperature and shear resistance of MKGM were better than those of KGM. The MKGM gel could be applied in fracturing fluid systems at a lower frequency through viscoelastic measurements.

The feedback loop of METTL14 and USP38 regulates cell migration, invasion and EMT as well as metastasis in bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer (BCa) is one of the most prevalent malignancies globally. Previous study has reported the inhibitory effect of methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) on BCa tumorigenesis, but its role in the cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in BCa remains unknown. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and western blot were applied to measure RNA and protein expression respectively. Cell migration, invasion and EMT were evaluated by wound healing, Transwell, and immunofluorescence (IF) assays as well as western blot of EMT-related proteins. In vivo experiments were performed to analyze metastasis of BCa. Mechanism investigation was also conducted to study METTL14-mediated regulation of BCa progression. RESULTS: METTL14 overexpression prohibits BCa cell migration, invasion in vitro and tumor metastasis in vivo. METTL14 stabilizes USP38 mRNA by inducing N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification and enhances USP38 mRNA stability in YTHDF2-dependent manner. METTL14 represses BCa cell migration, invasion and EMT via USP38. Additionally, miR-3165 inhibits METTL14 expression to promote BCa progression. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that METTL14 suppresses BCa progression and forms a feedback loop with USP38. In addition, miR-3165 down-regulates METTL14 expression to promote BCa progression. The findings may provide novel insight into the underlying mechanism of METTL14 in BCa progression.

Proteomics and liquid biopsy characterization of human EMT-related metastasis in colorectal cancer.

Tumor cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), however, there is a room of disagreement in role of EMT heterogeneity to colorectal cancer metastasis (mCRC) evolution. To uncover new EMT-related metastasis proteins and pathways, we addressed the EMT status in colorectal cancer liver metastasis patient-derived CTCs to identify proteins that promote their distant metastasis. And then, we performed a comparative proteomic analysis in matched pairs of primary tumor tissues, adjacent mucosa tissues and liver metastatic tissues. By integrative analysis we show that, unstable Epithelial/Mesenchymal (E/M)-type CTCs had the strongest liver metastases formation ability and the proportion of E/M-type CTCs correlated with distant metastases. Using an optimized proteomic workflow including data independent acquisition (DIA) and parallel reaction monitoring (PRM), we identified novel EMT-related protein cluster (GNG2, COL6A1, COL6A2, DCN, COL6A3, LAMB2, TNXB, CAVIN1) and well-described (ERBB2) core protein level changes in EMT-related metastasis progression, and the proteomic data indicate ERBB2, COL6A1 and CAVIN1 are promising EMT-related metastatic biomarker candidates. This study contributes to our understanding of the role that EMT plays in CRC metastasis and identifies heterogeneous EMT phenotypes as a key piece for tumor progression and prognosis. We further propose that therapies targeting this aggressive subset (E/M-type) of CTCs and related protein may be worthy of exploration as potential suppressors of metastatic evolution.

An Effective Inoculation Method for Phytophthora capsici on Black Pepper Plants.

Piper nigrum L. (black pepper) is a typical woody vine that is an economically important spice crop across the world. Black pepper production is significantly impacted by root rot disease caused by Phytophthora capsici, which has seriously influenced the industry development as a "choke point" problem. However, the molecular genetic mechanism of resistance in black pepper is unclear, leading to slow progress in the development of new black pepper varieties. An effective inoculation and precise sampling system for Phytophthora capsici on black pepper plants is essential for studying this plant-pathogen interaction. The main aim of this study is to demonstrate a detailed methodology where the basal head of black pepper is inoculated with Phytophthora capsici, while also providing a reference for the inoculation of woody vine plants. The basal head of the black pepper plant was pinpricked to damage it, and mycelial pellets covered the three holes to retain the moisture so the pathogen could infect the plant well. This method provides a better way of solving the instability that is caused by traditional inoculation methods including soil drench or root dipping. It also provides a promising means for studying the mode of action between plants and other soil-borne plant pathogens in agricultural precision breeding.