Targeting RCC1 to block the human soft-tissue sarcoma by disrupting nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking of Skp2.

Soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) emerges as formidable challenges in clinics due to the complex genetic heterogeneity, high rates of local recurrence and metastasis. Exploring specific targets and biomarkers would benefit the prognosis and treatment of STS. Here, we identified RCC1, a guanine-nucleotide exchange factor for Ran, as an oncogene and a potential intervention target in STS. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that RCC1 is highly expressed and correlated with poor prognosis in STS. Functional studies showed that RCC1 knockdown significantly inhibited the cell cycle transition, proliferation and migration of STS cells in vitro, and the growth of STS xenografts in mice. Mechanistically, we identified Skp2 as a downstream target of RCC1 in STS. Loss of RCC1 substantially diminished Skp2 abundance by compromising its protein stability, resulting in the upregulation of p27Kip1 and G1/S transition arrest. Specifically, RCC1 might facilitate the nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking of Skp2 via direct interaction. As a result, the cytoplasmic retention of Skp2 would further protect it from ubiquitination and degradation. Notably, recovery of Skp2 expression largely reversed the phenotypes induced by RCC1 knockdown in STS cells. Collectively, this study unveils a novel RCC1-Skp2-p27Kip1 axis in STS oncogenesis, which holds promise for improving prognosis and treatment of this formidable malignancy.

Top 100 cited classical articles in sentinel lymph nodes biopsy for breast cancer.

Background: The sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) takes on a critical significance in breast cancer surgery since it is the gold standard for assessing axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis and determining whether to perform axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). A bibliometric analysis is beneficial to visualize characteristics and hotspots in the field of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs), and it is conducive to summarizing the important themes in the field to provide more insights into SLNs and facilitate the management of SLNs. Materials and methods: Search terms relating to SLNs were aggregated and searched in the Web of Science core collection database to identify the top 100 most cited articles. Bibliometric tools were employed to identify and analyze publications for annual article volume, authors, countries, institutions, keywords, as well as hotspot topics. Results: The period was from 1998 to 2018. The total number of citations ranged from 160 to 1925. LANCET ONCOLOGY and JAMA-JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION were the top two journals in which the above articles were published. Giuliano, AE was the author with the highest number of articles in this field with 15. EUROPEAN INST ONCOL is the institution with the highest number of publications, with 35 articles. Hotspots include the following 4 topics, false-negative SLNs after neoadjuvant chemotherapy; prediction of metastatic SLNs; quality of life and postoperative complications; and lymphography of SLNs. Conclusion: This study applies bibliometric tools to analyze the most influential literature, the top 100 cited articles in the field of SLNB, to provide researchers and physicians with research priorities and hotspots.

Ce/Mn/Cr: (Re,Y)3Al5O12 Phosphor Ceramics (Re = Gd, Tb and Lu) for White LED Lighting with Significant Spectral Redshift and Improved Color-Rendering Index.

In order to attain phosphor ceramics with a high Color-Rendering Index (CRI), samples with the composition of Y0.997-xRexCe0.003)3(Al0.9748 Mn2+0.024Cr3+0.0012)5O12(Rex = 0, Gd0.333, Gd0.666, Gd0.997, Tb0.333, Tb0.666, Tb0.997 and Lu0.997 were prepared by solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering, and exhibited potential for high-quality, solid-state lighting. Doping with Cr3+ and Mn2+ effectively enhanced the red component of Ce3+ spectra through the intense energy transfer from Ce3+ ions to Mn2+/Cr3+ ions. The crystal field splitting of [GdO8] and [TbO8] was more extensive than that of [YO8], causing a massive redshift in the Ce3+ emission peaks from 542 to 561 and 595 nm, while [LuO8] had an opposite effect and caused a blueshift with a peak position at 512 nm. White LED devices incorporating Ce/Mn/Cr: (Gd0.333Y0.664)3Al5O12 phosphor ceramic exhibited a high CRI of 83.97, highlighting the potential for enhancing the red-light component of white LED lighting.

Differences in ecological resilience of radial growth between Larix principis-rupprechtii and Picea meyeri after drought.

To understand the responses of radial growth to climatic factors and the differences in ecological resilience to drought between a heliophilous species Larix principis-rupprechtii and a shade species Picea meyeri in mixed forests, we developed the tree-ring width chronologies of L. principis-rupprechtii and P. meyeri in three mixed forests based on the samples collected from Toudaogou of Saihanba in Hebei, Ningwu County and Kelan County in Shanxi Province. We analyzed the correlation between climatic factors and various chronologies and examined the differences in resistance (Rc), recovery (Rt), and resilience (Rs) of L. principis-rupprechtii and P. meyeri in response to drought stress. The results showed that the radial growth of L. principis-rupprechtii and P. meyeri was negatively correlated with the mean and maximum air temperature from May to July in three mixed forests, and was positively correlated with the Palmer drought index (PDSI) from May to September. Radial growth decline in trees due to drought stress was significantly different between the two species among the three sites, indicating different physiological and ecological regulation strategies. The resistance of P. meyeri was stronger than that of L. principis-rupprechtii at the three study sites, with stronger resilience and resilient elasticity of L. principis-rupprechtii than P. meyeri. As a result, P. meyeri exhibited greater drought resistance than L. principis-rupprechtii. Under global warming condition, L. principis-rupprechtii might be at greater risk of growth decline than P. meyeri in this region.

Efficient Dehazing with Recursive Gated Convolution in U-Net: A Novel Approach for Image Dehazing.

Image dehazing, a fundamental problem in computer vision, involves the recovery of clear visual cues from images marred by haze. Over recent years, deploying deep learning paradigms has spurred significant strides in image dehazing tasks. However, many dehazing networks aim to enhance performance by adopting intricate network architectures, complicating training, inference, and deployment procedures. This study proposes an end-to-end U-Net dehazing network model with recursive gated convolution and attention mechanisms to improve performance while maintaining a lean network structure. In our approach, we leverage an improved recursive gated convolution mechanism to substitute the original U-Net's convolution blocks with residual blocks and apply the SK fusion module to revamp the skip connection method. We designate this novel U-Net variant as the Dehaze Recursive Gated U-Net (DRGNet). Comprehensive testing across public datasets demonstrates the DRGNet's superior performance in dehazing quality, detail retrieval, and objective evaluation metrics. Ablation studies further confirm the effectiveness of the key design elements.

Enhancing sorption of layered double hydroxide-based magnetic biochar for arsenic and cadmium through optimized preparation protocols.

The impact of multiple preparation protocols on properties and performance of modified biochar remains unclear. This study prepared layered double hydroxide (LDH)-based magnetic biochars (LMBCs) with different LDH loading rates (LLR), pyrolysis temperatures, and biomass sources to explore their performance-characterization relationships toward As(III) and Cd(II). Higher LLR and pyrolysis temperature enhanced LMBCs᾿ adsorption capacities by increasing specific surface area (SSA) and metal/O-containing groups. Hence, LMBC produced at 2:1 LLR (LDH: magnetic biochar) and 800 ℃ pyrolysis exhibited maximum adsorption over 2 times that of LMBC with 0.5:1 LLR and 400 ℃ pyrolysis. Bamboo-sourced LMBC demonstrated superior adsorption than sewage sludge and garlic-sourced LMBCs due to its increased SSA, enabling a higher loading of nano-LDH. Adsorption of As(III) and Cd(II) onto LMBCs was governed by metal-mineral and metal-containing group through co-precipitation and complexation. This study provides a reference for adjusting the preparation protocols to improve sorption performance of modified biochar toward multiple heavy metals.

Survival benefit of active surveillance for papillary thyroid carcinoma: a propensity score matching analysis based on SEER database.

Background: Over-treatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) has become a common issue. Although active surveillance (AS) has been proposed as an alternative treatment to immediate surgery for PTMC, its inclusion criteria and mortality risk have not been clearly defined. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether surgery can achieve significant survival benefits in patients with larger tumor diameter of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), in order to evaluate the feasibility of expanding the threshold for active surveillance. Methods: This study retrospectively collected data of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2000 and 2019. The propensity score matching (PSM) method was used to minimize confounding factors and selection bias between the surgery and non-surgery groups, and to compare the clinical and pathological characteristics between the two groups based on the SEER cohort. Meanwhile, the impact of surgery on prognosis was compared using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox proportional hazard models. Results: A total of 175,195 patients were extracted from the database, including 686 patients who received non-surgical treatment, and were matched 1:1 with patients who received surgical treatment using propensity score matching. The Cox proportional hazard forest plot showed that age was the most important factor affecting overall survival (OS) of patients, while tumor size was the most important factor affecting disease-specific survival (DSS) of patients. In terms of tumor size, there was no significant difference in DSS between PTC patients with tumor size of 0-1.0cm who underwent surgical treatment and those who underwent non-surgical treatment, and the relative survival risk began to increase after the tumor size exceeded 2.0cm. Additionally, the Cox proportional hazard forest plot showed that chemotherapy, radioactive iodine, and multifocality were negative factors affecting DSS. Moreover, the risk of death increased over time, and no plateau phase was observed. Conclusion: For patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) staged as T1N0M0, AS is a feasible management strategy. As the tumor diameter increases, the risk of death without surgical treatment gradually increases, but there may be a threshold. Within this range, a non-surgical approach may be a potentially viable management strategy. However, beyond this range, surgery may be more beneficial for patient survival. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more large-scale prospective randomized controlled trials to further confirm these findings.

The global status and hotspots of research in the field of trans-oral endoscopic thyroidectomy (TOET) from 2008 to 2022.

Purpose: In this study, the aim was to comprehensively analyze the current status, hotspots, and trends of trans-oral endoscopic thyroidectomy (TOET) through bibliometric analysis and by presenting the field atlas. Methods: Web of Science Core Collection database was adopted to screen studies regarding TOET published between January 1, 2008 and August 1, 2022. The evaluation covered the criteria total number of studies, keywords, and contributions from countries/regions, institutions, journals, and authors. Results: A total of 229 studies were covered. SURGICAL ENDOSCOPY AND OTHER INTERVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES is the largest publication in the field of TOET. The three countries that contributed the most studies were Korea, China, and the USA. The most frequently occurring core keywords in the field of TOET are vestibular approach, outcomes, experience, safety, robotic thyroidectomy, scar, video-assisted thyroidectomy and quality-of-life. The seven clusters were generated in this study: intraoperative monitoring of the laryngeal return nerve (# 0), learning curve (# 1), postoperative quality of life (# 2), central lymph node dissection and safety (# 3), complications (# 4), minimally invasive surgery (# 5), and robotic surgery (# 6). Conclusion: The main research topics in the field of TOET place focuses on learning curves, laryngeal nerve monitoring, carbon dioxide gas bolus, chin nerve injury, surgical complications, and surgical safety. In the future, more academics will focus on the safety of the procedure and reducing complications..

Effects of the timing of epibrassinolide spraying on yield and nitrogen use efficiency of wide-belt sowing wheat.

In this study, we investigated the effects of epibrassinolide spraying at different growth stages on grain yield and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), and uptake efficiency (UPE) of wide-belt sowing wheat. The results showed that epibrassinolide spraying enhanced wheat grain yield by increasing the number of kernels per spike and (or) 1000-kernel weight, and improved NUE by promoting aboveground nitrogen accumulation and improving UPE. However, the magnitudes of such enhancements in yield and NUE differed among spraying times. Spraying epibrassinolide at the erecting and filling stages, jointing and filling stages, erecting, jointing, and filling stages, as well as erecting, flowering, and filling stages, produced the greatest increase in the number of kernels per spike and 1000-kernel weight, which led to substantial yield increases (12.8%-14.0%), and the greatest increase in aboveground nitrogen accumulation, which improved UPE by 16.4%-18.8%, and resulted in a significant improvement in NUE. Therefore, spraying epibrassinolide at the erecting and filling stage or jointing and filling stages could achieve high yield and NUE in wide-belt sowing wheat.

Affinity-based protein profiling-driven discovery of myricanol as a Nampt activator.

Herein, we synthesized an affinity-based probe of myricanol (pMY) with a photo-affinity cross-linker to initiate a bioconjugation reaction, which was applied for target identification in live C2C12 myotubes. Pull-down of biotinylated pMY coupled with mass spectroscopy and Western blotting revealed that pMY can bind with nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (Nampt), a rate-limiting enzyme in the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide salvage pathway. Cellular thermal shift assay, drug affinity responsive target stability assay and recombinant protein labeling further validated the direct interaction between myricanol and Nampt. Myricanol did not affect the protein expression of Nampt, but enhanced its activity. Knock-down of Nampt totally abolished the promoting effect of myricanol on insulin-stimulated glucose uptake in C2C12 myotubes. Taken together, myricanol sensitizes insulin action in myotubes through binding with and activating Nampt.

Ternary Ca-Mg-Al layered double-hydroxides for synergistic remediation of As, Cd, and Pb from both contaminated soil and groundwater: Characteristics, effectiveness, and immobilization mechanisms.

Layered double hydroxides (LDH) are the cost-effective and high-efficiency materials for remediation of potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in contaminated soil and groundwater. Herein, the effectiveness and mechanisms of a ternary Ca-Mg-Al LDH (CMAL) for the synergistic remediation of As, Cd, and Pb were investigated in contaminated soils and simulative groundwaters for the first time. The immobilization efficiencies of As, Cd, and Pb in both black soil (BS) and red soil (RS) amended by CMAL at 5 wt% were all > 75%. CMAL amendment transferred more mobile As, Cd, and Pb fractions in soils to immobile species than did Ca-Al LDH and Mg-Al LDH treatments. Furthermore, using a pump-and-treat technology, 82-98% of these 3 PTEs from contaminated groundwater were successfully immobilized in both CMAL treated BS and RS top-soils. Meanwhile, leaching of Ca, Mg, and Al from CMAL was minimal indicating the material was stable. The excellent immobilization performance of CMAL for these PTEs was attributed to the coating of soil microparticles by CMAL nanosheets that allowed complexation of Ca-O-As/Cd or Mg-O-As/Cd/Pb formation, co-precipitation of Ca/Fe-As and Cd(OH)2, and formation of Ca-bridged ternary complex (FeO-Ca-As/Cd). The adverse effect of oppositive pH/Eh-dependence between As and Cd/Pb was overshadowed by these mechanisms and thus allowed As immobilization. Immobilization of As, Cd, and Pb by CMAL amendment was more favorable for RS soil due to its lower reduction potential and more participation of metal-(hydr)oxides for complexation. Overall, the ternary-LDH is a promising synergistic remediation strategy for multi-PTEs contaminated soil and groundwater.

Mapping intellectual structures and research hotspots in the application of artificial intelligence in cancer: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is more and more widely used in cancer, which is of great help to doctors in diagnosis and treatment. This study aims to summarize the current research hotspots in the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Cancer (AAIC) and to assess the research trends in AAIC. Methods: Scientific publications for AAIC-related research from 1 January 1998 to 1 July 2022 were obtained from the Web of Science database. The metrics analyses using bibliometrics software included publication, keyword, author, journal, institution, and country. In addition, the blustering analysis on the binary matrix was performed on hot keywords. Results: The total number of papers in this study is 1592. The last decade of AAIC research has been divided into a slow development phase (2013-2018) and a rapid development phase (2019-2022). An international collaboration centered in the USA is dedicated to the development and application of AAIC. Li J is the most prolific writer in AAIC. Through clustering analysis and high-frequency keyword research, it has been shown that AI plays a significantly important role in the prediction, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of cancer. Classification, diagnosis, carcinogenesis, risk, and validation are developing topics. Eight hotspot fields of AAIC were also identified. Conclusion: AAIC can benefit cancer patients in diagnosing cancer, assessing the effectiveness of treatment, making a decision, predicting prognosis and saving costs. Future AAIC research may be dedicated to optimizing AI calculation tools, improving accuracy, and promoting AI.

Research trends and hotspots of breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic: A bibliometric analysis.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is disrupting routine medical care of cancer patients, including those who have cancer or are undergoing cancer screening. In this study, breast cancer management during the COVID-19 pandemic (BCMP) is reviewed, and the research trends of BCMP are evaluated by quantitative and qualitative evaluation. Methods: In this study, published studies relating to BCMP from 1 January 2020 to 1 April 2022 were searched from the Web of Science database (WoS). Bibliometric indicators consisted of publications, research hotspots, keywords, authors, journals, institutions, nations, and h-index. Results: A total of 182 articles investigating BCMP were searched. The United States of America and the University of Rome Tor Vergata were the nation and the institution with the most publications on BCMP. The first three periodicals with leading published BCMP studies were Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, Breast, and In Vivo. Buonomo OC was the most prolific author in this field, publishing nine articles (9/182, 4.94%). The co-keywords analysis of BCMP suggests that the top hotspots and trends in research are screening, surgery, rehabilitation, emotion, diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine management of breast cancer during the pandemic. The hotspot words were divided into six clusters, namely, screening for breast cancer patients in the pandemic, breast cancer surgery in the pandemic, recovery of breast cancer patients in the pandemic, motion effect of the outbreak on breast cancer patients, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer patients in the pandemic, and vaccination management for breast cancer patients during a pandemic. Conclusion: BCMP has received attention from scholars in many nations over the last 3 years. This study revealed significant contributions to BCMP research by nations, institutions, scholars, and journals. The stratified clustering study provided the current status and future trends of BCMP to help physicians with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer through the pandemic, and provide a reference for in-depth clinical studies on BCMP.

Effect of three aging processes on physicochemical and As(V) adsorption properties of Ce/Mn-modified biochar.

Modified biochar used for soil remediation is affected by exposure to the environment and aging process results in changes in its physicochemical properties and As(V) adsorption and immobilization in soil. Herein, the Ce/Mn-modified wheat straw-biochar (MBC) was manufactured and then aged through three artificial aging processes by exposure to soil with additional natural, freeze-thaw, and dry-wet cycles involved. It revealed that the specific surface areas of freeze-thaw-aged MBC reached 214.98 m2/g and was increased more than those of other two aging treatments. In addition, the pH values and C contents of MBC all decreased after aging while the H and O contents increased. Correspondingly, the contents of O-containing functional groups like C-O, -OH, and CO all increased by >16% with aging. The freeze-thaw cycling and alternating dry-wet aging treatments improved adsorption capacities of As(V) onto MBC and were increased by 16.2 and 10.6% at pH 5, respectively and these samples exhibited the best recyclability and adsorption selectivity for As(V). However, natural aging exerted a lower effect for As(V) adsorption by MBC due to its few changes on physicochemical properties. Causally, the freeze-thaw and dry-wet aging activated the Ce/Mn-oxides to generate Mn2+/3+ species and a new mono-Ce that exerted a strong bonding complexation with As(V) to form Ce/Mn-O-As ligands and increased CeAsO4 precipitation. Our results offer a new insight into the alterations expected for modified biochars with aging treatment in terms of As(V) adsorption for its long-term utilization in As contaminated soil.

Overexpression of DUOX2 mediates doxorubicin resistance and predicts prognosis of pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: Dysregulation of the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX) family is frequently observed in cancers and associated with their development and progression. However, the expression, role, and clinical significance of the NOX family members in pancreatic cancer remain unexplored. METHODS: The expression levels of the 7 NOX family genes were analyzed in Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. The messenger RNA (mRNA) expression and gene alterations were explored using The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data portal. Clinical significance analyses of the NOX family genes were conducted among pancreatic cancer patients. The expression and prognostic value of dual oxidase 2 (DUOX2) were then validated by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in an independent validation cohort. The function of DUOX2 was analyzed by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and its effect on the chemosensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. RESULTS: Results showed that NOX1, NOX2 (CYBB), NOX4, DUOX1, and DUOX2 were upregulated, while NOX3 and NOX5 were downregulated in pancreatic cancer tissues compared with nontumor tissues. Genomic alteration analysis demonstrated that deregulation of NOX family genes was partially caused by genomic alterations. Survival analyses showed that only DUOX2 was associated with overall survival (OS) and relapse-free survival (RFS) of pancreatic cancer patients. The DUOX2 gene was observed to be markedly overexpressed in pancreatic cancer. In the GSEA results for pancreatic cancer patients, DUOX2 was significantly associated with oxidoreductase activity acting on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen (NADH) or NADPH and uridine 5'-diphospho-glucuronosyltansferase (UDP) glycosyltransferase activity. Knockdown of DUOX2 in pancreatic cancer cells increased their sensitivity to doxorubicin. CONCLUSIONS: Overexpression of DUOX2 is correlated with prognosis and recurrence in pancreatic cancer patients and acts as a good marker for pancreatic cancer course prediction; furthermore, DUOX2 might be a therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer patients.

Phosphorus-modified biochar cross-linked Mg-Al layered double-hydroxide stabilizer reduced U and Pb uptake by Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) in uranium contaminated soil.

The decommissioning of uranium tailings (UMT) is usually accompanied by uranium (U) contamination in soil, which poses a serious threat to human health and ecological security. Therefore, the remediation of uranium pollution in soil is imminent from ecological and environmental points of view. In recent years, the use of biochar stabilizers to repair uranium tailings (UMT) soil has become a research hotspot. In this study, a novel phosphorus-modified bamboo biochar (PBC) cross-linked Mg-Al layered double-hydroxide composite (PBC@LDH) was prepared. The hyperaccumulator plant Indian mustard (Brassica juncea L.) was selected as the test plant for outdoor pot experiments, and the stabilizers were added to the UMT soil at the dosage ratio of 15 g kg-1, which verified the bioconcentrate and translocate of U and associated heavy metal Pb in the UMT soil by Indian mustard after stabilizer remediated. The results shown that, after 50 days of growth, compared with the untreated sample (CK), the Indian mustard in PBC@LDH treatment possessed a better growth and its biomass weight of whole plant was increased by 52.7%. Meanwhile, the bioconcentration factors (BF) of U and Pb for PBC@LDH treatment were significantly decreased by 73.4% and 34.2%, respectively; and the translocation factors (TF) were also commendable reduced by 15.1% and 2.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the Tessier available forms of U and Pb in rhizosphere soil showed a remarkably decrease compared with CK, which reached by 55.97% and 14.1% after PBC@LDH stabilization, respectively. Complexation, precipitation, and reduction of functional groups released by PBC@LDH with U and Pb described the immobilization mechanisms of biochar stabilizer preventing U and Pb enrichment in Indian mustard. As well as, the formation of U-containing vesicles was prevented by the precipitation of -OH functional groups with free U and Pb ions around the cell tissue fluids and vascular bundle structure of plant roots, thereby reducing the migration risk of toxic heavy metals to above-ground parts. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that the PBC@LDH stabilizer offers a potentially effective amendment for the remediation of U contaminated soil.

Proteome-wide Identification of Off-Targets of a Potent EGFRL858R/T790M Mutant Inhibitor.

Target identification is an essential step in drug discovery. It facilitates an understanding of drug action and potential toxicities and offers opportunities to repurpose drug candidates. HP-1, a potent EGFRL858R/T790M (epidermal growth factor receptor) mutant inhibitor, was developed by the group in an effort to treat acquired resistance in nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), but its cellular off-targets were not identified. An activity-based probe, HJ-1, was created followed by chemical proteomics and bioimaging studies. A total of 13 protein hits, including EGFR and NT5DC1, were identified by pull-down/LC-MS. Subsequent validation experiments indicated the involvement of a major off-target, NT5DC1, in the biological function of HP-1.

Pre-magnetic bamboo biochar cross-linked CaMgAl layered double-hydroxide composite: High-efficiency removal of As(III) and Cd(II) from aqueous solutions and insight into the mechanism of simultaneous purification.

Trivalent arsenic (As(III)) and divalent cadmium (Cd(II)) contamination in water environment is an urgent issue because of their most toxic physicochemical properties. Herein, the simultaneous purification of As(III) and Cd(II) from aqueous solution was achieved by use of a pre-magnetic Fe modified bamboo biochar that cross-linked CaMgAl layered double-hydroxide composite (Fe-BC@LDH). In a binary system, adsorption equilibrium of As(III) and Cd(II) onto specific sorbent Fe-BC@LDH was reached within 100 and 10 min of contact time under anaerobic conditions, respectively, and the maximum adsorption capacities of As(III) and Cd(II) by Fe-BC@LDH were respectively calculated to be ⁓265.3 and ⁓320.7 mg/g at pH 4.5 and 5- and 14-times than that of unmodified biochar. Moreover, adsorption in a competitive or single system, the sorbent displayed a greater preference for Cd(II). Importantly, the removal of As(III) and Cd(II) onto the composite was more favorable in a binary system due to formation of ternary FeOCdAs bonding configuration as well as the redox transformation of As(III) to As(V), inner-sphere complexation of MOAs/Cd (MFe, Ca, Mg, Al), electrostatic attraction, and co-precipitation of scorodite and hydroxy­iron­cadmium. Furthermore, the nanocomposite was still highly efficient after 5 adsorption cycles. This study demonstrated that the synthesized cost-effective Fe-BC@LDH is a promising candidate for the simultaneous separation of As(III) and Cd(II) from wastewater.

[Effects of nanopolystyrene nanoplastic exposure on the development and neurotoxicity of fetal rats during gestation].

Objective: To investigate the effects of polystyrene nanoplastics (PS-NPs) exposure during gestation on the growth and neurotoxicity of fetal rats. Methods: Twenty-seven SD pregnant rats were randomly divided into 9 groups with three rats in each group. The experimental group of PS-NPs was given 0.5, 2.5, 10 and 50 mg/kg of PS-NPs suspension with different particle sizes (25 and 50 nm) by gavage, wihe the control group was given ultrapure water by gavage. The time of gavage is from the 1st to the 18th day of pregnancy. The morphological changes of the placenta were observed; compare the number of male and female fetuses, live/dead/absorbed fetuses, body weight, body length, placental weight, and organ coefficients of kidney, liver, brain and intestine of fetal rats; the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum of the fetal rats were taken to measure related biochemical indicators. Results: Compared with the control group, the placenta of the PS-NPs exposed group was found to have structural damage, which increased in a dose-dependent manner. The area ratio of trophoblast was significantly increased (P＜0.05), and the area ratio of labyrinth was significantly decreased (P＜0.05); In the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and striatum of fetal rats, the levels of IL-1ß, IL -6 and TNF-α were significantly increased in the 10 and 50 mg/kg PS-NPs exposed group (P＜0.05), and more significantly elevated in the 25 nm group than those in the 50 nm group at 10 mg/kg exposure (P＜0.05) the CAT activity was significantly decreased in 2.5, 10 and 50 mg/kg PS-NPs exposure groups (P＜0.05), while the SOD and GSH-Px activities were significantly decreased in 25 nm exposure groups and 2.5, 10 and 50 mg/kg 50 nm PS-NPs exposure groups (P＜0.05), the MDA content was significantly increased in 10, 50 mg/kg 25 nm PS-NPs exposure groups and 50 mg/kg 50 nm PS-NPs exposure groups (P＜0.05). Conclusion: Maternal PS-NPs exposure during gestation may affect the growth and development of fetal rats by damaging the placental barrier and produce neurotoxicity in fetal rats, causing oxidative stress and inflammatory responses in various brain regions, and smaller particle sizes and higher doses of polystyrene nanoplastic exposure have more significant neurotoxic effects on the offspring.