Synthesis and Modification of Polycarboxylate Superplasticizers-A Review.

The molecular-scale structural changes in polycarboxylic superplasticizer (PCE) can influence dispersion and water retention. Polycarboxylate superplasticizer, synthesized using different methods, may alter dispersion and water-reducing effects. The synthesis of PCE involves creating a novel macromolecular monomer with a controllable molecular mass, adjustable lipophilic, and hydrophilic moieties, as outlined in this study. This article reviews processes for synthesizing polycarboxylates and identifies the optimal method through orthogonal experiments to produce a modified polycarboxylate superplasticizer (PCE-P). The study investigated the effects of different PCE types and concentrations on the surface tension, fluidity, and ζ potential of cement paste. PCE-P, synthesized at room temperature, showed comparable performances in initial hydration and conversion rate in cement to PCE synthesized at high temperatures. PCE-P exhibited an increased slump but had a wider molecular weight distribution and longer main and side chains, leading to a 24.04% decrease in surface tension, indicating a good dispersibility.

Goldenhar syndrome with limbal neoformation, microtia and skeletal deformities: a case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: To report a case of a 4-year-old patient with Goldenhar syndrome. CASE PRESENTATION: The author presents a rare case report involving a 4-year-old boy with multiple malformations. A comprehensive examination showed that the patient primarily had a limbal dermoid. He also has bilateral microtia and ear canal deformities. The skull CT scan and spine X-ray showed Maxillofacial Abnormalities and scoliosis. Whole Exome Sequencing revealed potential gene variations related to microtia. Although certain circumstances prevented us from initiating follow-up treatment for the patient, we have provided a detailed account of the diagnostic methodologies used for this condition. CONCLUSIONS: Goldenhar syndrome is a congenital condition, predominantly presenting as sporadic cases. Its diagnosis and management typically necessitate the involvement of multiple disciplines, including otolaryngology and craniofacial surgery. The syndrome encompasses a variety of craniofacial features, which can facilitate early diagnosis and guide subsequent therapeutic interventions.

Single-cell RNA-Seq reveals the earliest lineage specification and X chromosome dosage compensation in bovine preimplantation embryos.

Lineage specification and X chromosome dosage compensation are two crucial biological processes that occur during preimplantation embryonic development. Although extensively studied in mice, the timing and regulation of these processes remain elusive in other species, including humans. Previous studies have suggested conserved principles of human and bovine early development. This study aims to provide fundamental insights into these programs and the regulation using a bovine embryo model by employing single-cell transcriptomics and genome editing approaches. The study analyzes the transcriptomes of 286 individual cells and reveals that bovine trophectoderm/inner cell mass transcriptomes diverge at the early blastocyst stage, after cavitation but before blastocyst expansion. The study also identifies transcriptomic markers and provides the timing of lineage specification events in the bovine embryo. Importantly, we find that SOX2 is required for the first cell decision program in bovine embryos. Moreover, the study shows the occurrence of X chromosome dosage compensation from morula to late blastocyst and reveals that this compensation results from downregulation of X-linked genes in female embryonic cells. The transcriptional atlas generated by this study is expected to be widely useful in improving our understanding of mammalian early embryo development.

Acupuncture activates IRE1/XBP1 endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway in Parkinson's disease model rats.

Acupuncture has demonstrated its efficacy as a treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential mechanisms underlying acupuncture's effects on PD treatment. Our approach involved several steps. Firstly, we assessed the behavioral changes in PD rats, the modulation of dopamine (DA) and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) levels in the striatum, as well as the alteration in α-synuclein (α-syn) levels in the midbrain, aiming to evaluate the efficacy of acupuncture in PD treatment. Secondly, we selected endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress inhibitors and activators to assess the impact of ER stress on PD rats. Lastly, we utilized an IRE1 inhibitor to observe the influence of acupuncture on the IRE1/XBP1 pathway in PD rats. The findings of this study revealed that acupuncture improved the autonomous motor function, balance ability, coordination, and sensory motor integration function in the PD model rats. Additionally, it increased the levels of DA and 5-HT in the striatum while decreasing the levels of α-syn in the midbrain. Acupuncture also activated the expression of ER stress in the midbrain and upregulated the expression of IRE1/XBP1 in the striatum of PD model rats. Based on these results, we concluded that acupuncture may enhance the behavior of PD rats by activating the IRE1/XBP1 ER stress pathway, associated with the reduction of midbrain α-syn expression and the increase in striatal DA and 5-HT levels in unilateral 6-OHDA lesioned rats.

Effect of COVID-19 on Menstruation and Lower Reproductive Tract Health.

Background: To evaluate the dynamically impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the female reproductive system. Methods: An online survey was shared to women of reproductive age who had been infected with COVID-19 and recovered in China between January and March 2023. Results: In total, 610 women of childbearing age completed the menstrual component of the survey and 82.6% (n=504) women self-purchased medications without hospitalization. 254 women were menstruating during COVID-19 infection. 66.9% of them reported changes in menstruation, including cycle length (64.7%), menstrual flow (72.4%), and duration (53%), compared to pre-COVID-19. COVID-19-related chest tightness (OR: 9.5; 95% CI: 1.9-46.3), COVID-19-related stress (OR: 18.4; 95% CI: 1.4-249.7), and COVID-19-related low mood (OR: 6.2; 95% CI: 1.4-28.2) were associated with these menstrual changes. However, over 73% of women who menstruated during and after COVID-19 regained their pre-infection menstrual cycle (73%), duration (79.6%), and flow (75.2%) during their first menstruation after COVID-19 recovery. Compared to pre-infection, 19.7% (n=124) women reported changes in lower reproductive tract during COVID-19, including volume and color of vaginal discharge, vulvar pruritus, and vaginitis. These changes were significantly increased in those with a history of pelvic inflammatory disease (OR: 12.1; 95% CI: 3.1-48.2), ovarian cysts (OR: 4.9; 95% CI: 1.2-19.4), and vaginitis (OR: 5.5; 95% CI: 2.1-14.4) prior to COVID-19. However, 52.4% reported that their lower reproductive tract health had returned to its pre-infection within the first month after recovery from COVID-19, while 73.5% reported a return to the pre-infection within 2 months. Conclusion: Changes in menstruation and lower reproductive tract associated with COVID-19 are transient. Menstruation and lower reproductive tract health will gradually return to pre-COVID-19 status within 2 months of recovery, which can help alleviate excessive concerns about the effects of COVID-19 on the reproductive system.

Scene-adaptive pattern coding-based fringe projection profilometry: diffuse surfaces identification and 3-D reconstruction in cluttered scenes.

Fringe projection profilometry (FPP) is one of the most widely used optical three-dimensional (3-D) perceiving techniques. However, when applied to cluttered scenes, acquiring accurate 3-D shapes is difficult because of the influences of indirect light caused by non-diffuse surfaces. In this paper, we first theoretically analyze and model the influences of indirect light in FPP, and then propose a scene-adaptive pattern coding-based method, which can design projection patterns based on the reflective properties of the scene's surfaces, to achieve accurate 3-D perceiving in cluttered scenes. Specifically, the scene confidence analysis method is first proposed to identify the reflective properties of various surfaces and localize the camera pixels of the diffuse surface. The illumination status (i.e., "0" or "1") of each projector pixel can be determined according to the camera-projection coordinate mapping and spatial pattern coding, where only diffuse surfaces can be illuminated, thus fundamentally preventing the influences of indirect light from the point of view of the light source. The 3-D shapes of diffuse surfaces can be accurately reconstructed in cluttered scenes. Different from traditional reflective properties change or light separation solutions, the proposed method can achieve accurate 3-D perceiving of cluttered scenes without additional hardware or expensive calculation. Extensive experiments verify that the proposed method outperforms the traditional methods in terms of accuracy and robustness.

Single image relighting based on illumination field reconstruction.

Relighting a single low-light image is a crucial and challenging task. Previous works primarily focused on brightness enhancement but neglected the differences in light and shadow variations, which leads to unsatisfactory results. Herein, an illumination field reconstruction (IFR) algorithm is proposed to address this issue by leveraging physical mechanism guidance, physical-based supervision, and data-based modeling. Firstly, we derived the Illumination field modulation equation as a physical prior to guide the network design. Next, we constructed a physical-based dataset consisting of image sequences with diverse illumination levels as supervision. Finally, we proposed the IFR neural network (IFRNet) to model the relighting progress and reconstruct photorealistic images. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on both simulated and real-world datasets, showing its generalization ability in real-world scenarios, even training solely from simulation.

Corrigendum: A neutralizing bispecific single-chain antibody against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant produced based on CR3022.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1155293.].

γ-Bungarotoxin impairs the vascular endothelial barrier function by inhibiting integrin α5.

γ-bungarotoxin (γ-BGT) is an RGD motif-containing protein, derived from the venom of Bungarus multicinctus, leading to acute death in mice. These RGD motif-containing proteins from snake venom belonging to the disintegrin family can interfere with vascular endothelial homeostasis by directly binding cell surface integrins. Targeting integrins that generate vascular endothelial dysfunction may contribute to γ-BGT poisoning, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been investigated in detail. In this study, the results showed that γ-BGT played a role in -promoting the permeability of the vascular endothelial barrier. Depending on its selective binding to integrin α5 in vascular endothelium (VE), γ-BGT initiated downstream events, including focal adhesion kinase dephosphorylation and cytoskeleton remodeling, resulting in the intercellular junction interruption. Those alternations facilitated paracellular permeability of VE and barrier dysfunction. Proteomics profiling identified that as a downstream effector of the integrin α5 / FAK signaling pathway cyclin D1 partially mediated the cellular structural changes and barrier dysfunction. Furthermore, VE-released plasminogen activator urokinase and platelet-derived growth factor D could serve as potential diagnostic biomarkers for γ-BGT-induced vascular endothelial dysfunction. Our results indicate the mechanisms through which γ-BGT as a novel disintegrin directly interacts with the VE, with consequences for barrier dysfunction.

Structured light 3-D sensing for scenes with discontinuous reflectivity: error removal based on scene reconstruction and normalization.

Structured light-based 3-D sensing technique reconstructs the 3-D shape from the disparity given by pixel correspondence of two sensors. However, for scene surface containing discontinuous reflectivity (DR), the captured intensity deviates from its actual value caused by the non-ideal camera point spread function (PSF), thus generating 3-D measurement error. First, we construct the error model of fringe projection profilometry (FPP). From which, we conclude that the DR error of FPP is related to both the camera PSF and the scene reflectivity. The DR error of FPP is hard to be alleviated because of unknown scene reflectivity. Second, we introduce single-pixel imaging (SI) to reconstruct the scene reflectivity and normalize the scene with scene reflectivity "captured" by the projector. From the normalized scene reflectivity, pixel correspondence with error opposite to the original reflectivity is calculated for the DR error removal. Third, we propose an accurate 3-D reconstruction method under discontinuous reflectivity. In this method, pixel correspondence is first established by using FPP, and then refined by using SI with reflectivity normalization. Both the analysis and the measurement accuracy are verified under scenes with different reflectivity distributions in the experiments. As a result, the DR error is effectively alleviated while taking an acceptable measurement time.

Anti-ricin toxin human neutralizing antibodies and DMAbs protection against ricin toxin poisoning.

DNA-encoded monoclonal antibodies (DMAbs) and in vivo expression of antibody therapeutics presents an innovative alternative to conventional delivery methods. Therefore, in order to prevent the lethal dose of ricin toxin (RT) and to avoid human anti-mouse antibody (HAMA) reaction, we developed the human neutralizing antibody 4-4E against RT and constructed DMAb-4-4E. The human neutralizing antibody 4-4E could neutralize RT in vitro and in vivo, while the mice in RT group all died. Using intramuscular electroporation (IM EP), antibodies were rapidly expressed in vivo within 7 days and were enriched in intestine and gastrocnemius muscle mostly. Besides, we found that DMAbs have shown a broad protective efficacy of RT poisoning prophylaxis. Driven by plasmids for IgG expression, mice were survived and the blood glucose level of mice in DMAb-IgG group returned to normal at 72 h post RT challenge, and the RT group died within 48 h. Furthermore, hindrance of protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) and accumulation of RT in endosomes were found in IgG-protected cells, revealing the possible mechanism of neutralization details. These data support the further study of RT-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in the development.

A neutralizing bispecific single-chain antibody against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant produced based on CR3022.

Introduction: The constantly mutating SARS-CoV-2 has been infected an increasing number of people, hence the safe and efficacious treatment are urgently needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, neutralizing antibodies (Nabs), targeting the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are potentially effective therapeutics against COVID-19. As a new form of antibody, bispecific single chain antibodies (BscAbs) can be easily expressed in E. coli and exhibits broad-spectrum antiviral activity. Methods: In this study, we constructed two BscAbs 16-29, 16-3022 and three single chain variable fragments (scFv) S1-16, S2-29 and S3022 as a comparison to explore their antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. The affinity of the five antibodies was characterized by ELISA and SPR and the neutralizing activity of them was analyzed using pseudovirus or authentic virus neutralization assay. Bioinformatics and competitive ELISA methods were used to identify different epitopes on RBD. Results: Our results revealed the potent neutralizing activity of two BscAbs 16-29 and 16-3022 against SARS-CoV-2 original strain and Omicron variant infection. In addition, we also found that SARS-CoV RBD-targeted scFv S3022 could play a synergistic role with other SARS-CoV-2 RBD-targeted antibodies to enhance neutralizing activity in the form of a BscAb or in cocktail therapies. Discussion: This innovative approach offers a promising avenue for the development of subsequent antibody therapies against SARSCoV-2. Combining the advantages of cocktails and single-molecule strategies, BscAb therapy has the potential to be developed as an effective immunotherapeutic for clinical use to mitigate the ongoing pandemic.

FPP-SLAM: indoor simultaneous localization and mapping based on fringe projection profilometry.

Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) plays an important role in autonomous driving, indoor robotics and AR/VR. Outdoor SLAM has been widely used with the assistance of LiDAR and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). However, for indoor applications, the commonly used LiDAR sensor does not satisfy the accuracy requirement and the GNSS signals are blocked. Thus, an accurate and reliable 3D sensor and suited SLAM algorithms are required for indoor SLAM. One of the most promising 3D perceiving techniques, fringe projection profilometry (FPP), shows great potential but does not prevail in indoor SLAM. In this paper, we first introduce FPP to indoor SLAM, and accordingly propose suited SLAM algorithms, thus enabling a new FPP-SLAM. The proposed FPP-SLAM can achieve millimeter-level and real-time mapping and localization without any expensive equipment assistance. The performance is evaluated in both simulated controlled and real room-sized scenes. The experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of efficiency and accuracy. We believe this method paves the way for FPP in indoor SLAM applications.

A novel damage identification method for flue gas turbine blades based on tip timing.

Tip timing signal analysis has been applied to the online condition monitoring of high-speed blades. However, traditional tip timing analysis methods are not suitable for low-speed flue gas turbines. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel blade tip timing signal analysis method based on an investigation of the dynamic response characteristics of low-speed blades. First, the finite element modal theory is introduced to analyze the characteristics of blade damage. Second, an equivalent cantilever beam analysis model of flue gas turbine blades is established under complex environment and working conditions. In order to monitor the variation of local stiffness, a damage identification method based on the variation of the free end deflection of the equivalent cantilever beam is proposed. Finally, a rotating blade tip timing monitoring testing rig is established to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. The results show that the cracks originating at about 80% of the blade height have the greatest influence on blade stiffness, followed by blade root. The calculated blade damage parameters are 4.8464 mm and 3.7588 mm, and the crack influencing factors are 4.7476 and 3.6822, respectively, indicating that the change trend is consistent with the blade damage rules.

A study of the relationship between cytokine levels and the response to anti-VEGF therapy in polypoid choroidal vasculopathy with different choroidal thicknesses.

Purpose: Polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV) is an irreversible retinal choroidal disease. Individuals with PCV exhibit diverse baseline characteristics, including systemic characteristics, ocular traits, metabolic factor levels, and different responses to intravitreal anti-VEGF therapy. This study aims to investigate the pathogenesis of PCV by analyzing the systemic characteristics, ocular traits, and cytokine levels at baseline within a cohort of patients who exhibit different responses to anti-VEGF treatment. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis involving 80 eyes diagnosed with PCV. Patients were categorized into two groups based on responses to suboptimal intravitreal ranibizumab injection therapy: those with suboptimal responses and optimal responses. Aqueous humor samples were collected from the experimental eyes, and cytokine expression levels were assessed using cytometric bead array analysis. All subjects were further stratified into two groups according to the median choroidal thickness. Subsequently, logistic regression analysis and the ROC curve were employed to examine the relationship between cytokine expression levels, choroidal thickness, and anti-VEGF response. Results: The results revealed that compared to the group of optimal anti-VEGF response, the choroid in the suboptimal response group exhibited a significantly greater thickness. Additionally, compared to the suboptimal anti-VEGF response group, the expression levels of VEGF and VCAM-1 were markedly lower observed in the optimal anti-VEGF response group, while TNF-α showed the opposite trend. Logistic regression analysis indicated that VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α in the aqueous humor were independent risk factors for a suboptimal anti-VEGF response. After adjusting other risk factors, the risk of suboptimal anti-VEGF response decreased to 0.998-fold, 0.997-fold, and 1.294-fold. The AUC values for VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α were determined to be 0.805, 0.846, and 0.897, respectively. Furthermore, the risk of VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α were significantly associated with an increased risk of suboptimal anti-VEGF response after correction for risk factors in the thick choroid group. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that PCV exhibits systemic and ocular characteristics variations based on different anti-VEGF responses. The levels of cytokines in aqueous humor were found to have a significant correlation with the anti-VEGF response in PCV. VEGF, VCAM-1, and TNF-α are potential targets for assessing treatment response in thick choroidal PCV.

Primary diffuse large B-Cell lymphoma of the uterine cervix with severe lower urinary tract Symptoms: A rare case report and review of the literature.

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a rare disease with a crude annual incidence rate of 3.8 cases per 100,000 people. Besides, primary cervical lymphoma is very rare, accounting for only 0.008% of cervical malignancies. (Sant et al., 2010) Although DLBCL patients often present with abnormal vaginal bleeding, it was not involved in this case. In this article, we present a rare case of primary cervical diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with urinary tract symptoms. Case: A 71-year-old woman who had been suffering from dysuria for two months came to our hospital. A pelvic examination revealed a 10 cm cervical mass, while HPV and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) antigen tests were negative. The bulky cervical mass invaded the posterior wall of the uterus, vagina, superior rectum, bladder, and bilateral lower ureters, resulting in dysuria and dilatation of the upper ureter. Histopathological and immunohistochemical examination confirmed DLBCL and PET-CT suggested that it was stage IV. After two cycles of R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone), the large lesions were eliminated. Unfortunately, the patient suffered an untimely death unrelated to her disease before the fourth cycle of R-CHOP could begin. Conclusions: DLBCL of the cervix is a rare, but potentially curable disease if the diagnosis is made accurately, and doing so requires a high index of suspicion for cervical masses with an atypical presentation in which traditional diagnostic methods are equivocal. Obtaining adequate multilayered lesion biopsies containing both cervical epithelium and mesenchyme helps to avoid misdiagnoses. Histopathological biopsy and immunohistochemistry are the gold standards for diagnosis, and R-CHOP chemotherapy is an effective treatment.

The Study of Mechanical Behaviors of Caprinae Horn Sheath under Pendulum Impact.

As a light-weight natural keratin biocomposite, Bovidae horn exhibits high mechanical properties and energy absorption. Different to the widely studied horn from subfamily Bovinae and Antilocapridae, few studies have focused on the horn sheath of subfamily Caprinae. In this work, three Caprinae horn sheathes from Cashmere goat, White goat and Black sheep were selected. Charpy pendulum impact tests were performed, and the fracture characteristics were evaluated. It was demonstrated that water plays an important role in acquiring balanced dynamic mechanical properties in all Caprinae horn sheaths. The hydrated keratin provides large plastic deformation capacity and further gives rise to a gradual generation of micro-cracks. Multi-scale structure including wavy-shaped interface, scattered voids and hierarchical micro-fibre were observed. Such a structure induced complex fracture mechanisms, such as delamination, 90° crack deflection and fibre pull-out, which were probably influenced by interfacial strength. The results are expected to endow the research and thinking of Bovidae horn.

Anti-HIV Tigliane-Type Diterpenoids from the Aerial Parts of Wikstroemia lichiangensis.

Tigliane-type diterpenoids have attracted much attention in drug discovery since they have been reported to exhibit remarkable biological effects, such as tumor-promoting, antineoplastic, and anti-HIV activities. In continuing our efforts to discover novel biologically important diterpenoids from Wikstroemia species, Wikstroemia lichiangensis was investigated phytochemically for the first time. As a result, four new (1-4) and one known (5) tigliane-type diterpenoid were isolated, and their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic data analysis. Tiglianes (1-5) showed potent anti-HIV activity against HIV-1 infection of MT4 lymphocytes with IC50 values of 1.1-65.4 nM.

Ricin toxin and its neutralizing antibodies: A review.

Ricin toxin (RT) belongs to the ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) family of toxins and is considered to be a moderate threat by the US Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RT poses a great potential threat to the public, but there has been a lack of effective treatment options so far. Over the past few decades, researches on the prevention and treatment of RT poisoning have been investigated, among which neutralizing antibodies targeting RT specifically have always been a research hotspot. In this review, we have summarized the mechanism of action of RT, the research results and the design strategies of RT neutralizing antibodies, and discussed the key issues in the development of RT neutralizing antibody researches.

MicroRNA-221-5p Promotes Ricin Toxin-induced Inflammation via PI3K/Akt signaling pathway by targeting COL4a5.

Ricin toxin (RT) is one of the most lethal type II ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP), and is classified as a potential bioterror agent due to its severe cytotoxicity and high availability. The toxicity of RT is dependent on both dose and route of exposure. Increasing evidence demonstrates that sub-lethal RT induces acute inflammation and increases the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, current studies on mechanism of RT-induced inflammation are limited. In this study, to evaluate the relationship between miRNAs and RT-induced inflammation, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was used to analyze the expression of miRNAs and mRNAs in RT-treated RAW264.7 macrophage cells. A total of 14 significantly differently expressed (DE) miRNAs and 323 miRNA-mRNA interaction pairs were predicted by bioinformatics analysis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis revealed that majority of those interaction pairs were involved in PI3K/Akt pathway. In addition, overexpression of miR-221-5p promoted the inflammatory response by inhibiting the mRNA expression of COL4a5. This work contributes to our understanding of RT-induced inflammation and demonstrates the potential role of miRNAs in innate immunity, which may be regarded as potential targets in developing therapies for RT poisoning.