Nb Doping and Alloying of 2D WS2 by Atomic Layer Deposition for 2D Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Transistors and HER Electrocatalysts.

We utilize plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition to synthesize two-dimensional Nb-doped WS2 and NbxW1-xSy alloys to expand the range of properties and improve the performance of 2D transition metal dichalcogenides for electronics and catalysis. Using a supercycle deposition process, films are prepared with compositions spanning the range from WS2 to NbS3. While the W-rich films form crystalline disulfides, the Nb-rich films form amorphous trisulfides. Through tuning the composition of the films, the electrical resistivity is reduced by 4 orders of magnitude compared to pure ALD-grown WS2. To produce Nb-doped WS2 films, we developed a separate ABC-type supercycle process in which a W precursor pulse precedes the Nb precursor pulse, thereby reducing the minimum Nb content of the film by a factor of 3 while maintaining a uniform distribution of the Nb dopant. Initial results are presented on the electrical and electrocatalytic performances of the films. Promisingly, the NbxW1-xSy films of 10 nm thickness and composition x ≈ 0.08 are p-type semiconductors and have a low contact resistivity of (8 ± 1) × 102 Ω cm to Pd/Au contacts, demonstrating their potential use in contact engineering of 2D TMD transistors.

Facilitating safe and sustained submucosal lift through an endoscopically injectable shear-thinning carboxymethyl starch sodium hydrogel.

Traditional submucosal filling materials frequently show insufficient lifting height and duration during clinical procedures. Here, the anionic polysaccharide polymer sodium carboxymethyl starch and cationic Laponite to prepare a hydrogel with excellent shear-thinning ability through physical cross-linking, so that it can achieve continuous improvement of the mucosal cushion through endoscopic injection. The results showed that the hydrogel (56.54 kPa) had a lower injection pressure compared to MucoUp (68.56 kPa). The height of submucosal lifting height produced by hydrogel was higher than MucoUp, and the height maintenance ability after 2 h was 3.20 times that of MucoUp. At the same time, the hydrogel also showed satisfactory degradability and biosafety, completely degrading within 200 h. The hemolysis rate is as low as 0.76 %, and the cell survival rate > 80 %. Subcutaneous implantation experiments confirmed that the hydrogel showed no obvious systemic toxicity. Animal experiments clearly demonstrated the in vivo feasibility of using hydrogels for submucosal uplift. Furthermore, successful endoscopic submucosal dissection was executed on a live pig stomach, affirming the capacity of hydrogel to safely and effectively facilitate submucosal dissection and mitigate adverse events, such as bleeding. These results indicate that shear-thinning hydrogels have a wide range applications as submucosal injection materials.

LncRNA FOXD3-AS1 Contributes to Glioblastoma Progression Via Sponging miR-3918 to Upregulate CCND1.

AIM: To elucidate the pro-tumorigenic role of IncRNA FOXD3-AS1 in glioblastoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The expression of miR-3918, FOXD3-AS1, and CCND1 was measured in glioblastoma cells and tissues using reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The effect of FOXD3-AS1 silencing on the proliferation of glioblastoma cells was assessed in vitro using CCK-8 and colony formation assays and in vivo using xenograft mouse models. Additionally, the expression levels of the apoptosis-related proteins, Bcl-2 and Bax, were assessed using western blotting. Bioinformatic analysis and luciferase reporter assays assisted by RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pull-down experiments were conducted to validate the interactions among FOXD3-AS1, CCND1, and miR-3918. RESULTS: FOXD3-AS1 and CCND1 were highly expressed in glioblastoma tissues and cells, whereas miR-3918 was poorly expressed. The expressions of FOXD3-AS1 and CCND1 were inversely associated with miR-3918 levels in glioblastoma tissues. FOXD3-AS1 silencing weakened the proliferative capacity and accelerated apoptosis of glioblastoma cells in vitro and hampered tumor growth in vivo. Mechanical investigations showed that FOXD3-AS1 knockdown increased miR-3918 expression and inhibited glioblastoma cell growth. Meanwhile, the miR-3918 inhibitor restored CCND1 expression and induced the opposite outcome. CONCLUSION: FOXD3-AS1 facilitates the CCND1-driven progression of glioblastoma by serving as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-3918. This suggests that FOXD3-AS1 may be a potential therapeutic target for the management of glioblastoma development.

Visible-Light Induced Radical Addition-Elimination Reaction for Constructing Allylic Sulfones from Sulfonyl Chlorides and Allyl Bromides.

Allyl sulfones are commonly present in bioactive compounds and organic building blocks. This work introduces a photocatalytic radical addition-elimination reaction involving readily accessible sulfonyl chlorides and allyl bromides. It delivers structurally diverse allylic sulfones in moderate to excellent yields, showcasing a high tolerance to functional groups. Notably, this method operates under mild reaction conditions without the need for oxidants, stoichiometric reducing metals, or additives.

FGF21 Inhibits Hypoxia/Reoxygenation-induced Renal Tubular Epithelial Cell Injury by Regulating the PPARγ/NF-κB Signaling Pathway.

As a predominant trigger of acute kidney injury, renal ischemia-reperfusion injury can cause permanent renal impairment, and the effective therapies are lacking. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) plays a critical regulatory role in a variety of biological activities. This study was conducted to explore the functional of FGF21 in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and to discuss the hidden reaction mechanism. To simulate renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in vitro, HK2 cells were induced by hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R). The effects of FGF21 on H/R-induced HK2 cell viability were evaluated utilizing cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). The levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and inflammatory cytokines in H/R-induced HK2 cells were assessed by means of LDH assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The levels of oxidative stress markers were appraised with corresponding assay kits and western blot was applied to estimate the expressions of oxidative stress-related proteins. The apoptosis of H/R-induced HK2 cells was assessed by virtue of flow cytometry. The expressions of apoptosis- and PPARγ/NF-κB signaling pathway-related proteins were evaluated with western blot. To discuss the reaction mechanism of PPARγ/NF-κB pathway in H/R-induced HK2 cells, PPARγ inhibitor GW9662 was employed to treat cells and the above experiments were then conducted again. This study found that FGF21 treatment inhibited the inflammatory response, oxidative stress and apoptosis in H/R-induced HK2 cells. Moreover, FGF21 regulated PPARγ/NF-κB signaling pathway and GW9662 partially reversed the impacts of FGF21 on the inflammatory response, oxidative stress and apoptosis in H/R-exposed HK2 cells. Collectively, FGF21 protected against H/R-induced renal tubular epithelial cell injury by regulating the PPARγ/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Construction of SnS2-modified multi-hole carbon nanofibers with sulfur encapsulated as free-standing cathode electrode for lithium sulfur battery.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries exhibit a huge potential in energy storage devices for the thrilling theoretical energy density (2600 Wh kg-1). Nevertheless, the serious shuttle effect rooted in polysulfides and retardative hysteresis reaction kinetics results in inferior cycling and rate performances of Li-S batteries, impeding commercial applications. In order to further promote the energy storage abilities of Li-S batteries, a unique binder-free sulfur carrier consisting of SnS2-modified multi-hole carbon nanofibers (SnS2-MHCNFs) has been constructed, where MHCNFs can offer abundant space to accommodate high-level sulfur and SnS2can promote the adsorption and catalyst capability of polysulfides, synergistically promoting the lithium-ion storage performances of Li-S batteries. After sulfur loading (SnS2-MHCNFs@S), the material was directly applied as a cathode electrode of the Li-S battery. The SnS2-MHCNFs@S electrode maintained a good discharge capacity of 921 mAh g-1after 150 cycles when the current density was 0.1 C (1 C = 1675 mA g-1), outdistancing the MHCNFs@S (629 mAh g-1) and CNFs@S (249 mAh g-1) electrodes. Meanwhile, the SnS2-MHCNFs@S electrode still exhibited a discharge capacity of 444 mAh g-1at 2 C. The good performance of SnS2-MHCNFs@S electrode indicates that combining multihole structure designation and polar material modification are highly effective methods to boost the performances of Li-S batteries.

Metagenomic analysis of healthy and diseased peri-implant microbiome under different periodontal conditions: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Peri-implantitis is a polybacterial infection that can lead to the failure of dental implant rehabilitation. This study aimed to profile the microbiome of the peri-implant plaque and estimate the effect of periodontitis on it among 40 Chinese participants with dental implant prostheses and presenting with varying peri-implant and periodontal health states. METHODS: Submucosal plaque samples were collected from four distinct clinical categories based on both their implant and periodontal health status at sampling point. Clinical examinations of dental implant and remaining teeth were carried out. Metagenomic analysis was then performed. RESULTS: The microbiome of the peri-implantitis sites differed from that of healthy implant sites, both taxonomically and functionally. Moreover, the predominant species in peri-implantitis sites were slightly affected by the presence of periodontitis. T. forsythia, P. gingivalis, T. denticola, and P. endodontalis were consistently associated with peri-implantitis and inflammatory clinical parameters regardless of the presence of periodontitis. Prevotella spp. and P. endodontalis showed significant differences in the peri-implantitis cohorts under different periodontal conditions. The most distinguishing function between diseased and healthy implants is related to flagellar assembly, which plays an important role in epithelial cell invasion. CONCLUSIONS: The composition of the peri-implant microbiome varied in the diseased and healthy states of implants and is affected by individual periodontal conditions. Based on their correlations with clinical parameters, certain species are associated with disease and healthy implants. Flagellar assembly may play a vital role in the process of peri-implantitis.

Structure of human GPR119-Gs complex binding APD597 and characterization of GPR119 binding agonists.

The rhodopsin-like receptor GPR119 plays a crucial role in glucose homeostasis and is an emerging target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. In this study, we analyzed the structure of GPR119 with the agonist APD597 bound and in complex with the downstream G protein trimer by single particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Structural comparison in combination with function assay revealed the conservative and specific effects of different kinds of GPR119 agonists. The activation mechanism of GPR119 was analyzed by comparing the conformational changes between the inactive and active states. The interaction between APD597 derivatives and synthetic agonists with GPR119 was analyzed by molecular docking technique, and the necessary structural framework was obtained. The above conclusions can provide structural and theoretical basis for the development of therapeutic drugs for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Targeting DDX11 promotes PARP inhibitor sensitivity in hepatocellular carcinoma by attenuating BRCA2-RAD51 mediated homologous recombination.

Homologous recombination (HR) is a major DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair pathway of clinical interest because of treatment with poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi). Cooperation between RAD51 and BRCA2 is pivotal for DNA DSB repair, and its dysfunction induces HR deficiency and sensitizes cancer cells to PARPi. The depletion of the DEAD-box protein DDX11 was found to suppress HR in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The HR ability of HCC cells is not always dependent on the DDX11 level because of natural DDX11 mutations. In Huh7 cells, natural DDX11 mutations were detected, increasing the susceptibility of Huh7 cells to olaparib in vitro and in vivo. The HR deficiency of Huh7 cells was restored when CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in genomic editing was used to revert the DDX11 Q238H mutation to wild type. The DDX11 Q238H mutation impeded the phosphorylation of DDX11 by ATM at serine 237, preventing the recruitment of RAD51 to damaged DNA sites by disrupting the interaction between RAD51 and BRCA2. Clinically, a high level of DDX11 correlated with advanced clinical characteristics and a poor prognosis and served as an independent risk factor for overall and disease-free survival in patients with HCC. We propose that HCC with a high level of wild-type DDX11 tends to be more resistant to PARPi because of enhanced recombination repair, and the key mutation of DDX11 (Q238H) is potentially exploitable.

Alveolar Bone Morphologic Predictors for Guided Bone Regeneration Outcome in Anterior Maxilla.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to explore the influence of alveolar bone morphologic variables on the outcome of guided bone regeneration (GBR) in the anterior maxilla region. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients who received single maxillary anterior tooth delayed implant placed simultaneously with GBR were recruited. Baseline data including age, gender, implant site, implant brand, and bone graft materials were recorded. The resorption rate of the grafted bone (RRGB), labial bone width at 0 mm, 2 mm, and 4 mm apical to the implant platform at Tn (LBW0Tn, LBW2Tn, LBW4Tn), implant angulation (IA), maximum bone graft thickness (MBGT), bone graft volume (BGV), and the initial bone morphologic variables bone concavity depth (BCD) and bone concavity angulation (BCA) were measured. The Pearson correlation analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and optimal binning method were used to explore the potential predictors for GBR. RESULTS: Among 28 patients, the labial bone width of implant and bone graft volume decreased significantly when measured 6 months after surgery. The mean percentage of RRGB was 49.78%. RRGB was not correlated with gender, age, bone graft material, IA, MBGT, bone graft volume at T1, implant site, and implant brand (P > .05). BCD and BCA were each moderately correlated with RRGB (r = -0.872 [P < .001] and r = 0.686 [P < .001], respectively). A BCD ≥1.03 mm and a BCA <155.30° resulted in a significantly lower percentage of RRGB (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: A significant grafted bone materials volume reduction was detected after GBR with collagen membrane and deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM). The initial bone morphology can influence GBR outcome, and a bone concavity with a depth ≥1.03 mm and an angulation <155.30° led to a lower RRGB. BCD and BCA can be used as variables to predict the outcome of GBR.

Identification of ORF1B as a unique nonstructural protein for fowl adenovirus serotype 4.

Fowl adenovirus serotype 4 (FAdV-4), the causative agent of hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS), is a double-stranded DNA virus. Although many structural proteins have been deeply studied, the coding potential of some other open reading frames (ORFs) and the biological functions of their products during virus infection have not been fully elucidated. Here, a unique nonstructural protein ORF1B of FAdV-4 was identified and its expression kinetics along infection was analyzed. Except that of FAdV-10, a member of the same genus as FAdV-4, FAdV-4 ORF1B shared as low homologous identity as 29.2% in amino acid sequence with the other ten counterparts. Structurally, ORF1B was mapped on the N-terminal region of the genome between 1485 nt to 1808 nt and predicted to only contain two α-helix. Confocal immunofluorescence assay with homemade rabbit polyclonal antibody demonstrated that ORF1B could be simultaneously observed with structural protein Fiber 1 in FAdV-4-infected cells. Western blot further showed that ORF1B could only be detected in the infected cells but not mature virions, suggesting ORF1B was a nonstructural protein. Subsequently, the expression level of ORF1B detected by qRT-PCR and IFA was gradually decreased along with FAdV-4 infection, suggesting ORF1B was an early gene transcript. These results will lay a solid foundation to further study the biological effect of ORF1B on the replication and pathogenicity of FAdV-4.

Clinical Efficacy of Polyethylene Glycol Loxenatide in the Treatment of Obese or Overweight Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical efficacy of Polyethylene Glycol Loxenatide in the treatment of obese or overweight Type 2 Diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. STUDY DESIGN: A randomised-controlled trial. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Endocrinology, Baoding No. 1 Central Hospital, Hebei, China, from January 2020 to January 2022. METHODOLOGY: One hundred overweight and obese patients who were diagnosed with T2DM were prospectively included. They were randomly divided into two groups, with 50 cases in each group. The control group was given oral metformin + subcutaneous insulin injection. The combined treatment group was also given Polyethylene Glycol Loxenatide in addition to the control treatment. The duration of treatment was 6 months for both groups. The clinical efficacy of the two group treatments was compared. The height, body mass, weight index (body mass index (BMI)), total cholesterol (TC), 2-h postprandial blood glucose (2hPBG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, fasting insulin (FINS), lipids (triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) levels, fasting blood glucose (FPG), and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbAlc) were evaluated before and 6 months after the treatment. In addition, any adverse reactions in the two groups were observed. RESULTS: The overall effective rate of clinical therapy was 92% (46/50) in the combined treatment group, which was higher than that of the control group (76%, 38/50, p = 0.029). The weight and BMI levels of the combined treatment group became considerably lower than those of the control group (weight p = 0.004; BMI p <0.001), and the levels of FPG, 2hPBG, FINS, HbAlc and HOMA-IR (all p = <0.001), and the TG and TC values decreased in both groups (TG p = 0.001; TC p = 0.016). CONCLUSION: PEG Loxenatide considerably affects obese and overweight T2DM patients. With no noticeable adverse reactions, this drug is highly recommended for application and clinical promotion. KEY WORDS: Polyethylene Glycol Loxenatide, Type 2 Diabetes mellitus, Obesity, Overweight, Clinical efficacy.

Sex-modified association between grip strength and mild cognitive impairment: a cross-sectional and follow-up study in rural China.

BACKGROUND: The sex difference in the association between grip strength and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains controversial and unclear. METHODS: This is a part of a chronic disease cohort study conducted in rural areas, Fuxin, Liaoning Province, China. At the baseline survey, a total of 2633 participants aged 35- 85 were included in the cross-sectional study. Handgrip strength (HGS, kg) was measured by a dynamometer (Jamar +). MCI were assessed using the Chinese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Basic (MOCA-BC). Then, a total of 1667 cognitively normal individuals (NCs) were planed to follow up and to assess the incident MCI after two years. We used logistic regression to examine the association between HGS (as a continuous variable and quintiles) and MCI and analyzed the interaction between sex and HGS on MCI. Models stratified by sex were adjusted for demographic information (age, ethnicity, education, marital status, income, physical labor level), modifiable risk factors (body mass index, smoking, drinking) and disease history (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and coronary heart disease). Baseline MOCA-BC scores were additionally adjusted in the longitudinal study. RESULTS: In the cross-sectional study, participants were on average 56.6 ± 9.8 years, and 1713 (65.1%) were females. In the cohort study, 743 individuals were followed up with an average age of 55.9 ± 9.6 years, which included 530 (71.3%) females. The cumulative incidence of MCI over a two-year period was 17.1%. In the cross-sectional study, compared to the highest quintile of HGS, the lowest HGS was associated with higher risk of MCI in males (odds ratio [OR]: 2.66; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.54, 4.64) and females (OR: 1.70; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.49) with adjustment of potential confounding factors. In the cohort study, compared to the highest quintile of HGS, the lowest HGS was associated with an increased risk of incident MCI in females (OR: 3.93; 95% CI: 1.39, 13.01) but not in males (OR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.11, 2.94, P for interaction = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Lower grip strength is a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment and predicts a higher risk of MCI in females.

CSNK1G2-AS1 promotes metastasis, colony formation and serves as a biomarker in testicular germ cell tumor cells.

Background/Aim: Some long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to significantly participate in the progression of TGCTs. In comparison to the normal testis, the TGCT tissues showed significantly decreased CSNK1G2-AS1 expression, however, its effect on TGCTs and its mechanism are still unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of CSNK1G2-AS1 on TGCTs and explore the mechanism underlying its effect on TGCTs. Materials and Methods: In this study, to evaluate the expression of CSNK1G2-AS1 in tissue samples from TGCTs, the UCSC and GEPIA databases were applied and qRT-PCR was conducted. The Kaplan-Meier Plotter was applied to analyze the correlation between CSNK1G2-AS1 methylation levels and the prognosis of TGCTs patients. The assays of MTS, clone formation, transwell, and flow cytometry were performed to investigate the effect of CSNK1G2-AS1 overexpression on the proliferation, metastasis, and apoptosis of TGCT cells, respectively. Finally, western blotting was conducted to determine the expressions of the proteins associated with EMT and AKT. Results: Our study first found that, compared to the normal testis, TGCTs tissue showed significantly decreased CSNK1G2-AS1 expression, and hypomethylation of CSNK1G2-AS1 was significantly correlated with a better prognosis with TGCTs patients. In vitro, we found that overexpression of CSNK1G2-AS1 dramatically promoted the clone formation, invasion, and migration of TGCT cells, but inhibited apoptosis. And CSNK1G2-AS1 overexpression significantly decreased the expression of EMT-associated proteins ZO-1 but increased the expression and phosphorylation of AKT. Conclusions: CSNK1G2-AS1 may play an essential role in the pathogenesis and metastasis of TGCTs through the EMT- and AKT-mediated signal pathways.

ERO1α promotes the proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells by regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway.

Endoplasmic reticulum oxidoreductin 1α (ERO1α) is an oxidase that exists in the endoplasmic reticulum and plays an important role in regulating oxidized protein folding and tumor malignant progression. However, the specific role and mechanism of ERO1α in the progression of colorectal cancer (CRC) have not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, 280 specimens of CRC tissues and adjacent noncancerous tissues were collected to detect the expression of ERO1α and analyze the clinical significance. ERO1α was stably knocked-down in RKO and HT29 CRC cells to investigate its function and mechanism in vitro and in vivo. We found that ERO1α was remarkably upregulated in CRC tissues and high ERO1α expression is associated with N stage and poor prognosis of CRC patients. ERO1α knockdown in CRC cells significantly inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis while inactivating the PI3K/AKT pathway. Rescue assays revealed that AKT activator 740Y-P could reverse the effects on proliferation and apoptosis of ERO1α knockdown in CRC cells. In vivo tumorigenicity assay also confirmed that ERO1α knockdown suppressed tumor growth. Taken together, our findings demonstrated ERO1α promotes the proliferation and inhibits apoptosis of CRC cells by regulating the PI3K/AKT pathway. High expression of ERO1α is associated with poor prognosis in CRC patients, and ERO1α could be a potential therapeutic target for CRC.

Occurrence and removal of antibiotics from aquaculture wastewater by solar-driven Fe(VI)/oxone process.

In this study, the occurrence and removal of ten selected antibiotics from aquaculture wastewater by the process solar + Fe(VI)+oxone were investigated. The detection levels of the antibiotics in the aquaculture wastewater samples were at ng/L. The degradation of the selected antibiotics under the process solar + Fe(VI)+oxone followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. As the most abundant antibiotic in the studied aquaculture wastewater, norfloxacin (NFX) was used as the model compound to study the reaction mechanism and detoxification ability of the treatment system, as well as the effects of reaction parameters and environmental factors. The active species including O2•-, O21, and Fe(V)/Fe(IV) contributed to NFX degradation in the process solar + Fe(VI)+oxone. Decarboxylation, the piprazine ring opening, defluorination of the benzene ring, oxygen addition and the cleavage of the quinolone/benzene ring were main degradation pathways of NFX. Around 20% mineralization was reached and the inhibition rate of the bacteria (Escherichia Coli) growth was reduced from 95.5% to 47.1% after the NFX degradation for 60 min. Despite the suppression of NFX degradation by NO2-, PO43- and humic acid, the NFX degradation in three aquaculture wastewater samples was faster than that in ultrapure water due to the positive effect of Br-and other factors. The above results demonstrate the treatment process solar-driven Fe(VI)/oxone has a good potential in antibiotics removal from the aquaculture wastewater.

Microplastic pollution in water environment of typical nature reserves and scenery districts in southern China.

Microplastics were frequently detected in the ocean, freshwater environment and wastewater treatment plants. This study aims to fill up the knowledge gap of microplastic distribution in nature reserves and scenery districts. Microplastic samples were collected, the distribution characteristics were analyzed with a stereoscopic microscope and a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, and the ecological risks of microplastic pollution were calculated. Microplastics were detected in all the collected water samples and the average abundances of microplastics in the surface water of eleven investigated nature reserves and scenery districts ranged from 542 to 5500 items/m3. The degrees of microplastic pollution of all the surveyed nature reserves and scenery districts were classified as hazard level I. Fiber microplastics represented the largest average proportion (67.4 %) and 91.7 % of the detected microplastics were smaller than 2 mm. Corresponding to the frequent detection of fiber microplastics, cotton was the most abundant (25.5 %) polymer type of the suspected microplastics, followed by polyamide (PA, 20.6 %), polyester (PET, 17.0 %), and cellulose (15.6 %). For the ecological risk of the microplastic polymers, six, two and three nature reserves and scenery districts were defined to be at hazard level I, II and III, respectively. In brief, microplastic pollution occurred in all the surveyed nature reserves/scenery districts and posed different degrees of ecological risks.

Automatic snoring detection using a hybrid 1D-2D convolutional neural network.

Snoring, as a prevalent symptom, seriously interferes with life quality of patients with sleep disordered breathing only (simple snorers), patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and their bed partners. Researches have shown that snoring could be used for screening and diagnosis of OSA. Therefore, accurate detection of snoring sounds from sleep respiratory audio at night has been one of the most important parts. Considered that the snoring is somewhat dangerously overlooked around the world, an automatic and high-precision snoring detection algorithm is required. In this work, we designed a non-contact data acquire equipment to record nocturnal sleep respiratory audio of subjects in their private bedrooms, and proposed a hybrid convolutional neural network (CNN) model for the automatic snore detection. This model consists of a one-dimensional (1D) CNN processing the original signal and a two-dimensional (2D) CNN representing images mapped by the visibility graph method. In our experiment, our algorithm achieves an average classification accuracy of 89.3%, an average sensitivity of 89.7%, an average specificity of 88.5%, and an average AUC of 0.947, which surpasses some state-of-the-art models trained on our data. In conclusion, our results indicate that the proposed method in this study could be effective and significance for massive screening of OSA patients in daily life. And our work provides an alternative framework for time series analysis.

The diagnostic significance of the ZNF gene family in pancreatic cancer: a bioinformatics and experimental study.

Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) is among the most devastating of all cancers with a poor survival rate. Therefore, we established a zinc finger (ZNF) protein-based prognostic prediction model for PAAD patients. Methods: The RNA-seq data for PAAD were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Differentially expressed ZNF protein genes (DE-ZNFs) in PAAD and normal control tissues were screened using the "lemma" package in R. An optimal risk model and an independent prognostic value were established by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. Survival analyses were performed to assess the prognostic ability of the model. Results: We constructed a ZNF family genes-related risk score model that is based on the 10 DE-ZNFs (ZNF185, PRKCI, RTP4, SERTAD2, DEF8, ZMAT1, SP110, U2AF1L4, CXXC1, and RMND5B). The risk score was found to be a significant independent prognostic factor for PAAD patients. Seven significantly differentially expressed immune cells were identified between the high- and low-risk patients. Then, based on the prognostic genes, we constructed a ceRNA regulatory network that includes 5 prognostic genes, 7 miRNAs and 35 lncRNAs. Expression analysis showed ZNF185, PRKCI and RTP4 were significantly upregulated, while ZMAT1 and CXXC1 were significantly downregulated in the PAAD samples in all TCGA - PAAD, GSE28735 and GSE15471 datasets. Moreover, the upregulation of RTP4, SERTAD2, and SP110 were verified by the cell experiments. Conclusion: We established and validated a novel, Zinc finger protein family - related prognostic risk model for patients with PAAD, that has the potential to inform patient management.