Dietary supplementation with short- and long-chain structured lipids alleviates obesity via regulating hepatic lipid metabolism, inflammation and gut microbiota in high-fat-diet-induced obese mice.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is closely associated with lipid accumulation, inflammation and intestinal microbiota dysbiosis. Short- and long-chain type structured lipids (SLCTs) are kinds of low-calorie structured lipids and demonstrate anti-obesity and hypolipidemia bioactivity. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential effects of dietary supplementation of SLCTs rich in short-chain fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids on high-fat-diet-induced obesity and gut microbiota modulation in C57BL/6J mice. RESULTS: Results showed that SLCTs supplementation ameliorated body weight, dyslipidemia, liver lipid accumulation, liver injury and systemic inflammation in obese mice. As expected, immunohistochemical analysis showed that SLCTs significantly increased the expression of proliferator-activated receptor alpha and decreased the expression of Toll-like receptor 4 in liver tissue. Furthermore, SLCTs supplementation significantly downregulated the expression level of liver inflammation-related genes while upregulating the expression level of liver lipid metabolism-related genes. Additionally, SLCTs supplementation markedly enhanced the diversity of gut microbiota, reduced the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increased the diversity and richness of beneficial intestinal microorganisms, such as Bacteroides, Lactobacillus, Lachnospiraceae NK4A136 group, Alloprevotella and Ruminococcaceae UCG-014. CONCLUSION: Our work suggested that SLCTs may have the potential to reduce obesity associated with a high-fat diet by regulating liver metabolism, inflammation and gut microbiota. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Atypical functional connectivity during rest and task-related dynamic alteration in young children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: An analysis using the phase-locking value.

AIM: The study investigated the electroencephalography (EEG) functional connectivity (FC) profiles during rest and tasks of young children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and typical development (TD). METHODS: In total, 78 children (aged 5-7 years) were enrolled in this study; 43 of them were diagnosed with ADHD and 35 exhibited TD. Four FC metrics, coherence, phase-locking value (PLV), pairwise phase consistency, and phase lag index, were computed for feature selection to discriminate ADHD from TD. RESULTS: The support vector machine classifier trained by phase-locking value (PLV) features yielded the best performance to differentiate the ADHD from the TD group and was used for further analysis. In comparing PLVs with the TD group at rest, the ADHD group exhibited significantly lower values on left intrahemispheric long interelectrode lower-alpha and beta as well as frontal interhemispheric beta frequency bands. However, the ADHD group showed higher values of central interhemispheric PLVs on the theta, higher-alpha, and beta bands. Regarding PLV alterations within resting and task conditions, left intrahemispheric long interelectrode beta PLVs declined from rest to task in the TD group, but the alterations did not differ in the ADHD group. Negative correlations were observed between frontal interhemispheric beta PLVs and the Disruptive Behavior Disorder Rating Scale as rated by teachers. CONCLUSIONS: These results, which complement the findings of other sparse studies that have investigated task-related brain FC dynamics, particularly in young children with ADHD, can provide clinicians with significant and interpretable neural biomarkers for facilitating the diagnosis of ADHD.

LAG-3 Represents a Marker of CD4+ T Cells with Regulatory Activity in Patients with Bone Fracture.

The lymphocyte activation gene 3 (LAG-3) is a CD4 homolog with binding affinity to MHC class II molecules. It is thought that LAG-3 exerts a bimodal function, such that co-ligation of LAG-3 and CD3 could deliver an inhibitory signal in conventional T cells, whereas, on regulatory T cells, LAG-3 expression could promote their inhibitory function. In this study, we investigated the role of LAG-3 expression on CD4+ T cells in patients with long bone fracture. We found that LAG-3+ cells represented approximately 13% of peripheral blood CD4+ T cells on average. Compared to LAG-3- CD4+ T cells, LAG-3+ CD4+ T cells presented significantly higher Foxp3 and CTLA-4 expression. Directly ex vivo or with TCR stimulation, LAG-3+ CD4+ T cells expressed significantly higher levels of IL-10 and TGF-ß than LAG-3- CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, blocking the LAG-3-MHC class II interaction actually increased the IL-10 expression by LAG-3+ CD4+ T cells. The frequency of LAG-3+ CD4+ T cell was positively correlated with restoration of healthy bone function in long bone fracture patients. These results together suggested that LAG-3 is a marker of CD4+ T cells with regulatory function; at the same time, LAG-3 might have limited the full suppressive potential of Treg cells.

Downregulation of regulatory T cell function in patients with delayed fracture healing.

Bone fracture healing is a multistage regenerative process that requires the collaboration of various cell types, with approximately 5%-10% of fractures not healing properly. Accumulating evidence suggests that dysregulations in the immune system are associated with defective healing. In a cohort of 30 bone fracture patients between 50 and 62 years of age, 8 patients displayed delayed healing. Compared to the 22 normal healing patients, these 8 delayed healing patients presented significantly lower frequencies of CD4+ CD25hi Foxp3+ canonical regulatory T cells immediately following bone fracture and early on during the healing process. The CD4+ CD25+/hi T cells from delayed healing patients also presented reduced capacity to express transforming growth factor beta (TGF-ß), and presented reduced surface expression levels of inhibitory molecules, including CTLA-4 and Lag-3, compared to CD4+ CD25+/hi T cells from normal healing patients. Moreover, CD4+ CD25+/hi T cells from delayed healing patients were less potent in the suppression of CD4+ CD25- autologous conventional T cell proliferation, and presented reduced expansion capacity in response to interleukin (IL)-2 stimulation. Overall, our results demonstrated multiple reductions in regulatory T cell function in delayed healing patients that could produce long-lasting consequences in the bone fracture healing process.

Accurate Thrombin Monitoring Based on Proximity Ligation Assay-Assisted Rolling Circle Amplification (RCA).

Due to the fact that the expression level of thrombin affects the coagulation function of the injured tissue after trauma, it is considered as a very promising biomarker for the diagnosis and treatment of trauma. Nonetheless, sensitive, simple, and accurate thrombin detection continue to be extremely difficult. Here, using the two domains of thrombin as detection targets, we build a unique, accurate, isothermal thrombin analysis method. The method is constructed based on the integration of proximity ligation and rolling circle amplification (RCA). This approach specifically binds with the two functional domains of thrombin by using two intricately constructed probes. The technique has great accuracy thanks to proximity ligation, and the coupled RCA ensures acceptable sensitivity. With a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.23 pM, the method has demonstrated favorable detection persistence. Furthermore, the technique has a high selectivity for thrombin. Integrating merits including high sensitivity, low cost, and good portability, this method may enrich the arsenal for thrombin related applications.

Alfalfa MsbHLH115 confers tolerance to cadmium stress through activating the iron deficiency response in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution severely affects plant growth and development, posing risks to human health throughout the food chain. Improved iron (Fe) nutrients could mitigate Cd toxicity in plants, but the regulatory network involving Cd and Fe interplay remains unresolved. Here, a transcription factor gene of alfalfa, MsbHLH115 was verified to respond to iron deficiency and Cd stress. Overexpression of MsbHLH115 enhanced tolerance to Cd stress, showing better growth and less ROS accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana. Overexpression of MsbHLH115 significantly enhanced Fe and Zn accumulation and did not affect Cd, Mn, and Cu concentration in Arabidopsis. Further investigations revealed that MsbHLH115 up-regulated iron homeostasis regulation genes, ROS-related genes, and metal chelation and detoxification genes, contributing to attenuating Cd toxicity. Y1H, EMSA, and LUC assays confirmed the physical interaction between MsbHLH115 and E-box, which is present in the promoter regions of most of the above-mentioned iron homeostasis regulatory genes. The transient expression experiment showed that MsbHLH115 interacted with MsbHLH121pro. The results suggest that MsbHLH115 may directly regulate the iron-deficiency response system and indirectly regulate the metal detoxification response mechanism, thereby enhancing plant Cd tolerance. In summary, enhancing iron accumulation through transcription factor regulation holds promise for improving plant tolerance to Cd toxicity, and MsbHLH115 is a potential candidate for addressing Cd toxicity issues.

Bacterial transformation of lignin: key enzymes and high-value products.

Lignin, a natural organic polymer that is recyclable and inexpensive, serves as one of the most abundant green resources in nature. With the increasing consumption of fossil fuels and the deterioration of the environment, the development and utilization of renewable resources have attracted considerable attention. Therefore, the effective and comprehensive utilization of lignin has become an important global research topic, with the goal of environmental protection and economic development. This review focused on the bacteria and enzymes that can bio-transform lignin, focusing on the main ways that lignin can be utilized to produce high-value chemical products. Bacillus has demonstrated the most prominent effect on lignin degradation, with 89% lignin degradation by Bacillus cereus. Furthermore, several bacterial enzymes were discussed that can act on lignin, with the main enzymes consisting of dye-decolorizing peroxidases and laccase. Finally, low-molecular-weight lignin compounds were converted into value-added products through specific reaction pathways. These bacteria and enzymes may become potential candidates for efficient lignin degradation in the future, providing a method for lignin high-value conversion. In addition, the bacterial metabolic pathways convert lignin-derived aromatics into intermediates through the "biological funnel", achieving the biosynthesis of value-added products. The utilization of this "biological funnel" of aromatic compounds may address the heterogeneous issue of the aromatic products obtained via lignin depolymerization. This may also simplify the separation of downstream target products and provide avenues for the commercial application of lignin conversion into high-value products.

Study on the estradiol degradation gene expression and resistance mechanism of Rhodococcus R-001 under low-temperature stress.

Estradiol (E2), an endocrine disruptor, acts by mimicking or interfering with the normal physiological functions of natural hormones within organisms, leading to issues such as endocrine system disruption. Notably, seasonal fluctuations in environmental temperature may influence the degradation speed of estradiol (E2) in the natural environment, intensifying its potential health and ecological risks. Therefore, this study aims to explore how bacteria can degrade E2 under low-temperature conditions, unveiling their resistance mechanisms, with the goal of developing new strategies to mitigate the threat of E2 to health and ecological safety. In this paper, we found that Rhodococcus equi DSSKP-R-001 (R-001) can efficiently degrade E2 at 30 °C and 10 °C. Six genes in R-001 were shown to be involved in E2 degradation by heterologous expression at 30 °C. Among them, 17ß-HSD, KstD2, and KstD3, were also involved in E2 degradation at 10 °C; KstD was not previously known to degrade E2. RNA-seq was used to characterize differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to explore the stress response of R-001 to low-temperature environments to elucidate the strain's adaptation mechanism. At the low temperature, R-001 cells changed from a round spherical shape to a long rod or irregular shape with elevated unsaturated fatty acids and were consistent with the corresponding genetic changes. Many differentially expressed genes linked to the cold stress response were observed. R-001 was found to upregulate genes encoding cold shock proteins, fatty acid metabolism proteins, the ABC transport system, DNA damage repair, energy metabolism and transcriptional regulators. In this study, we demonstrated six E2 degradation genes in R-001 and found for the first time that E2 degradation genes have different expression characteristics at 30 °C and 10 °C. Linking R-001 to cold acclimation provides new insights and a mechanistic basis for the simultaneous degradation of E2 under cold stress in Rhodococcus adaptation.

The Utility of a Novel Neuropsychological Measurement to Analyze Event-Related Attentional Behaviors among Young Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-a Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVE: The identification and diagnosis of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits is challenging during the preschool stage. Neuropsychological measures may be useful in early assessments. Furthermore, analysis of event-related behavior appears to be an unmet need for clinical treatment planning. Conners' Kiddie Continuous Performance Test (K-CPT) is the most popular well-established neuropsychological measurement but lacks event markers to clarify the heterogeneous behaviors among children. This study utilized a novel commercially available neuropsychological measure, the ΣCOG, which was more game-like and provided definite event markers of individual trial in the test. METHODS: Thirty-three older preschool children (14 were diagnosed with ADHD, mean age: 66.21 ± 5.48 months; 19 demonstrated typical development, mean age: 61.16 ± 8.11 months) were enrolled and underwent comprehensive medical and developmental evaluations. All participants underwent 2 versions of neuropsychological measures, including the K-CPT, Second Edition (K-CPT 2) and the ΣCOG, within a short interval. RESULTS: The study indicated the omissions and response time scores measured in this novel system correlated with clinical measurement of the behavioral scales in all participants and in the group with ADHD; additionally, associations with the traditional K-CPT 2 were observed in commissions and response time scores. Furthermore, this system provided a within-task behavioral analysis that identified the group differences in the specific trial regarding omission and commission errors. CONCLUSIONS: This innovative system is clinically feasible and can be further used as an alternative to the K-CPT 2 especially in research by revealing within-task event-related information analysis.

MsYSL6, A Metal Transporter Gene of Alfalfa, Increases Iron Accumulation and Benefits Cadmium Resistance.

Iron (Fe) is necessary for plant growth and development. The mechanism of uptake and translocation in Cadmium (Cd) is similar to iron, which shares iron transporters. Yellow stripe-like transporter (YSL) plays a pivotal role in transporting iron and other metal ions in plants. In this study, MsYSL6 and its promoter were cloned from leguminous forage alfalfa. The transient expression of MsYSL6-GFP indicated that MsYSL6 was localized to the plasma membrane and cytoplasm. The expression of MsYSL6 was induced in alfalfa by iron deficiency and Cd stress, which was further proved by GUS activity driven by the MsYSL6 promoter. To further identify the function of MsYSL6, it was heterologously overexpressed in tobacco. MsYSL6-overexpressed tobacco showed better growth and less oxidative damage than WT under Cd stress. MsYSL6 overexpression elevated Fe and Cd contents and induced a relatively high Fe translocation rate in tobacco under Cd stress. The results suggest that MsYSL6 might have a dual function in the absorption of Fe and Cd, playing a role in the competitive absorption between Fe and Cd. MsYSL6 might be a regulatory factor in plants to counter Cd stress. This study provides a novel gene for application in heavy metal enrichment or phytoremediation and new insights into plant tolerance to toxic metals.

Mechanism of 17ß-estradiol degradation by Rhodococcus equi via the 4,5-seco pathway and its key genes.

Steroid estrogens have been detected in oceans, rivers, lakes, groundwaters, soils, and even urban water supply systems, thereby inevitably imposing serious impacts on human health and ecological safety. Indeed, many estrogen-degrading bacterial strains and degradation pathways have been reported, with the 4,5-seco pathway being particularly important. However, few studies have evaluated the use of the 4,5-seco pathway by actinomycetes to degrade 17ß-estradiol (E2). In this study, 5 genes involved in E2 degradation were identified in the Rhodococcus equi DSSKP-R-001 (R-001) genome and then heterologously expressed to confirm their functions. The transformation of E2 with hsd17b14 reached 63.7% within 30 h, resulting in transformation into estrone (E1). Furthermore, we found that At1g12200-encoded flavin-binding monooxygenase (FMOAt1g12200) can transform E1 at a rate of 51.6% within 30 h and can transform E1 into 4-hydroxyestrone (4-OH E1). In addition, catA and hsaC genes were identified to further transform 4-OH E1 at a rate of 97-99%, and this reaction was accomplished by C-C cleavage at the C4 position of the A ring of 4-OH E1. This study represents the first report on the roles of these genes in estrogen degradation and provides new insights into the mechanisms of microbial estrogen metabolism and a better understanding of E2 degradation via the 4,5-seco pathway by actinomycetes.

Sensitive osteosarcoma diagnosis through five-base telomerase product-triggered CRISPR-Cas12a enhanced rolling circle amplification.

Osteosarcoma is the most frequent primary malignant bone tumor, composed of mesenchymal cells producing osteoid and immature bone. The sensitive detection of telomerase plays a pivotal role in the early diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of osteosarcoma. We report here an in vitro strategy for sensitive telomerase activity detection through the integration of rolling circle amplification (RCA) and a clustered regularly spaced short palindrome repeats (CRISPR)-Cas12a system. In the proposed strategy, telomerase substrate (TS) primers are easily controlled to extend five bases (GGGTT) to give short telomerase extension products (TEP) with definite lengths without adding dATP. The resulting short TEPs can then cyclize the padlock through hybridizing with its two terminals and thus initiate the following RCA. To obtain an improved sensitivity, the CRISPR-Cas12a system is attached to collaterally cut surrounding DNA reporter probes after recognizing the target single strand DNA sequence in the RCA products. The highlights of this strategy are as follows: (i) the short TEP triggered strategy is excellent at detecting low telomerase activity and thus contributes to the early diagnosis of malignant tumors; (ii) highly sensitive telomerase activity detection which is easy to operate from RCA initiated CRISPR-Cas12a; (iii) opening up of a new avenue for telomerase activity detection with a CRISPR-Cas12a system. Finally, the proposed strategy exhibited sensitive telomerase activity detection under optimized experimental parameters and has great application potential for the clinical diagnosis of malignant tumors and the development of anti-cancer drugs.

Bidirectional Association Between Depression and Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Nationwide Longitudinal Study.

Several cross-sectional studies have reported a common comorbidity between depression and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). However, a bidirectional temporal association between these 2 distinct diseases has rarely been investigated. Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 25,969 patients with FMS and without any psychiatric disorder and 17,142 patients with depression and without FMS between 2000 and 2008 were enrolled and separately compared with age- and sex-matched (1:4) control groups. Patients with FMS who developed a new-onset depression and those with depression who developed new-onset FMS were identified during follow-up (to the end of 2011). The conditional Cox regression analyses, after adjustment for demographic data and medical comorbidities, showed that the patients with FMS were associated with an increased risk (hazard ratio [HR] 7.46, 95% confidence interval [CI] 6.77-8.22) of subsequent depression and that those with depression were associated with an increased risk (HR 6.28, 95% CI 5.67-6.96) of subsequent FMS. Our results supported a bidirectional temporal association between depression and FMS. Each disease occurring first may increase the risk of the other subsequently. Further study may be necessary to determine the underlying mechanism between depression and FMS and to clarify whether a prompt intervention for depression or FMS may decrease the risk of the other later in life. Perspective: Our study supported a bidirectional temporal association between depression and FMS such that each disease occurring first may increase the risk of the other subsequently. This result may imply a shared pathophysiology between FMS and depression, but further investigation is needed.

Polydipsia, hyponatremia and rhabdomyolysis in schizophrenia: A case report.

The prevalence of polydipsia among patients with schizophrenia is 6%-20%. Around 10%-20% of patients with polydipsia may develop hyponatremia and even complicated with rhabdomyolysis. Here we presented a 40-year-old man with schizophrenia, who had received paliperidone 15 mg/d for more than one year, and polydipsia was noted. In Jan, 2014, he developed hyponatremia (Na 113 mEq/L) with consciousness disturbance. After 3% NaCl (500 cc/d) intravenous supplement for three days, the hyponatremia was corrected, but rhabdomyolysis developed with a substantial elevation in the level of creatine kinase (CK) to 30505 U/L. After hydration, the CK level gradually decreased to 212 U/L. Both the hyponatremia itself and quick supplementation of NaCl can cause rhabdomyolysis. If rhabdomyolysis is not recognized, insufficient hydration or water restriction for polydipsia may further exacerbate the rhabdomyolysis with a lethal risk. In this case, we highlight the possible complication of rhabdomyolysis with polydipsia-induced hyponatremia. In addition to monitoring the serum sodium level, the monitoring of CK is also important; and switching of antipsychotic may improve the polydipsia.