Layered Li-Co-B as a Low-Potential Anode for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

An anode material is one of the key factors affecting the capacity, cycle, and rate (fast charge) performance of lithium-ion batteries. Using the adaptive genetic algorithm, we found a new ground-state Li2CoB and two metastable states LiCoB and LiCo2B2 in the Li-Co-B system. The Li2CoB phase is a lithium-rich layered structure, and it has an equivalent lithium-ion migration barrier (0.32 eV) in addition to the lower voltage platform (0.05 V) than graphite, which is the most important commercial anode material at present. Moreover, we analyzed the mechanism of delithiation for Li2CoB and found that it maintained metallicity in the process of delithiation, indicating its good conductivity as an electrode material. Therefore, it is an excellent potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries. Our work provides a promising theoretical basis for the experimental synthesis of Li-Co-B and similar new materials.

Cadmium transfer between maize and soybean plants via common mycorrhizal networks.

More than 80% terrestrial plants establish mutualistic symbiosis with soil-borne arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). These fungi not only significantly improve plant nutrient acquisition and stress resistance, but also mitigate heavy metal phytotoxicity, Furthermore, the extraradical mycorrhizal mycelia can form common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) that link roots of multiple plants in a community. Here we show that the networks mediate migration of heavy metal cadmium (Cd) from maize (Zea mays L.) to soybean (Glycine max (Linn.) Merr.) plants. CMNs between maize and soybean plants were established after inoculation of maize plants with AMF Funneliformis mosseae. Application of CdCl2 in maize plants led to 64.4% increase in the shoots and 48.2% increase in the roots in Cd content in CMNs-connected soybean plants compared to the control without Cd treatment in maize. Meanwhile, although the CMNs-connected soybean plants did not directly receive Cd supply, they upregulated transcriptional levels of Cd transport-related genes HATPase and RSTK 2.13- and 5.96-fold, respectively, induced activities of POD by 44.8% in the leaves, and increased MDA by 146.2% in the roots. Furthermore, Cd addition inhibited maize growth but mycorrhizal colonization improved plant performance in presence of Cd stress. This finding demonstrates that mycorrhizal networks mediate the transfer of Cd between plants of different species, suggesting a potential to use CMNs as a conduit to transfer toxic heavy metals from main food crops to heavy metal hyperaccumulators via intercropping.

Urinary cadmium in relation to bone damage: Cadmium exposure threshold dose and health-based guidance value estimation.

Cadmium (Cd) is a widespread heavy metal with osteotoxicity, and bone mineral density (BMD) is often used as an early sensitive biomarker of bone damage. This study retrieved worldwide epidemiological studies to conduct a systematic meta-analysis to explore the association between Cd exposure and bone damage. A random effect model was used to establish the relationship between urinary Cd (U-Cd) and BMD and explore the influence of covariate factors. The benchmark dose method was used to calculate the safety threshold of U-Cd when the BMD decrease within an acceptable range. Toxicokinetic (TK) model was used to estimate the health-based guidance value (HBGV) of dietary Cd exposure based on the U-Cd threshold. The 95% lower confidence interval of benchmark dose of U-Cd derived in this study was 1.71 µg/g Cr, and the HBGV of dietary Cd exposure was determined to be 0.64 µg/kg bw/day. Gender had the greatest influence on BMD, followed by body mass index (BMI), age, and race. This study conducted a comprehensive systematic analysis of global research and was the first exploration to quantify the decreased BMD caused by Cd exposure in a large-scale population. The results provided reference for the risk assessment of Cd exposure and the formulation of dietary exposure standards.

Downregulation of FOXO6 alleviates hypoxia-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes by enhancing Nrf2 activation via upregulation of SIRT6.

Forkhead box protein O6 (FOXO6) has been recently identified as a novel regulator of oxidative stress in multiple pathological processes. However, whether FOXO6 participates in the regulation of oxidative stress of myocardial infarction is unclear. The present study was performed to evaluate the potential role of FOXO6 in regulating hypoxia-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes in vitro. Our results demonstrated that FOXO6 expression was highly elevated in cardiomyocytes exposed to hypoxia. Downregulation of FOXO6 expression by the siRNA-mediated gene knockdown in hypoxia-exposed cardiomyocytes increased cell viability, while repressing apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. In contrast, overexpression of FOXO6 enhanced the sensitivity of cardiomyocytes to hypoxia-induced injury. Further, in-depth research revealed that knockdown of FOXO6 promoted the expression of sirtuin6 (SIRT6) and enhanced the activation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated antioxidant signaling. Moreover, SIRT6 inhibition markedly blocked the FOXO6 knockdown-induced promotion effect on Nrf2 activation. In addition, Nrf2 inhibition partially reversed the FOXO6 knockdown-mediated protective effect against hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte injury. Taken together, the findings of our study demonstrate that knockdown of FOXO6 is capable of protecting cardiomyocytes from hypoxia-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress by enhancing Nrf2 activation via upregulation of SIRT6. Our study highlights a potential role of FOXO6 in myocardial infarction and suggests it as an attractive target for cardioprotection.

Mummified Thyroid Nodules: Conventional and Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound Features.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was to highlight the conventional and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (US) features of mummified thyroid nodules, which should help differentiate them from histologically proven papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs). METHODS: Thirty-one patients with 33 mummified thyroid nodules, which showed suspicious US findings that were suggestive of malignancy, as well as 33 patients with 38 surgically confirmed PTCs were enrolled in this study. We evaluated the size, shape, margin, echogenicity, presence of shadowing and halo, presence of punctate echogenic foci, vascularity, and contrast enhancement parameters for each nodule. The final diagnosis of mummified thyroid nodules was confirmed via fine-needle aspiration (FNA) or surgery. RESULTS: Of the 33 mummified thyroid nodules, 9 (27.3%) were confirmed by surgery to be benign, and 24 (72.7%) were proven by FNA to be benign. A univariate analysis indicated that the mummified thyroid nodules more frequently showed wider-than-tall shapes, marked hypoechogenicity, the presence of posterior shadowing, the absence of nodular vascularity, hypoenhancement or no enhancement, and peak index and area under the curve indices of less than 1 in the findings of preoperative US and contrast-enhanced US compared to PTCs. A multivariate analysis showed that marked hypoechogenicity and an area under the curve index of less than 1 were independent characteristics related to mummified nodules for discriminating from PTCs (all P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Benign thyroid nodules may display shrinkage over time and may reveal malignant US features. Awareness of these findings and their connection with initial and follow-up US examinations should help identify mummified thyroid nodules and to avoid surgical excision or unnecessary FNA.

MiR-29c-3p inhibits proliferation and migration in rat primary cardiac fibroblasts via interacting with STAT3.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to elucidate the influence and molecular mechanism of microRNA-29c-3p (miR-29c-3p) on cell functions of cardiac fibroblasts. METHODS: Rat primary cardiac fibroblasts were induced with high-level glucose (HG), followed by determination of miR-29c-3p and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) levels. The regulatory effects of miR-29c-3p and STAT3 (AG490) on proliferative and migratory potentials in HG-induced cardiac fibroblasts were examined by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) and Transwell assay, respectively. The interaction between miR-29c-3p and STAT3 was assessed by bioinformatics analysis and dual-luciferase reporter assay. RESULTS: MiR-29c-3p was downregulated, and STAT3 was upregulated in HG-induced cardiac fibroblasts. HG induction stimulated proliferative and migratory potentials in cardiac fibroblasts, which were attenuated by overexpression of miR-29c-3p. STAT3 was the target gene binding miR-29c-3p. Application of AG490, the STAT3 inhibitor, was able to reverse the promoted proliferative and migratory potentials in HG-induced cardiac fibroblasts with miR-29c-3p knockdown. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-29c-3p weakens the over-proliferative and over-migratory potentials in HG-induced cardiac fibroblasts via inactivating the STAT3 signaling.

Discrete and Balanced Spectral Clustering With Scalability.

Spectral Clustering (SC) has been the main subject of intensive research due to its remarkable clustering performance. Despite its successes, most existing SC methods suffer from several critical issues. First, they typically involve two independent stages, i.e., learning the continuous relaxation matrix followed by the discretization of the cluster indicator matrix. This two-stage approach can result in suboptimal solutions that negatively impact the clustering performance. Second, these methods are hard to maintain the balance property of clusters inherent in many real-world data, which restricts their practical applicability. Finally, these methods are computationally expensive and hence unable to handle large-scale datasets. In light of these limitations, we present a novel Discrete and Balanced Spectral Clustering with Scalability (DBSC) model that integrates the learning the continuous relaxation matrix and the discrete cluster indicator matrix into a single step. Moreover, the proposed model also maintains the size of each cluster approximately equal, thereby achieving soft-balanced clustering. What's more, the DBSC model incorporates an anchor-based strategy to improve its scalability to large-scale datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed model outperforms existing methods in terms of both clustering performance and balance performance. Specifically, the clustering accuracy of DBSC on CMUPIE data achieved a 17.93% improvement compared with that of the SOTA methods (LABIN, EBSC, etc.).

Transcriptome and Metabolome Provide Insights into Fruit Ripening of Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme).

Insights into flavor formation during fruit ripening can guide the development of breeding strategies that balance consumer and producer needs. Cherry tomatoes possess a distinctive taste, yet research on quality formation is limited. Here, metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses were conducted on different ripening stages. The results revealed differentially accumulated metabolites during fruit ripening, providing candidate metabolites related to flavor. Interestingly, several key flavor-related metabolites already reached a steady level at the mature green stage. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the expression levels of the majority of genes tended to stabilize after the pink stage. Enrichment analysis demonstrated that changes in metabolic and biosynthetic pathways were evident throughout the entire process of fruit ripening. Compared to disease resistance and fruit color genes, genes related to flavor and firmness may have a broader impact on the accumulation of metabolites. Furthermore, we discovered the interconversion patterns between glutamic acid and glutamine, as well as the biosynthesis patterns of flavonoids. These findings contribute to our understanding of fruit quality formation mechanisms and support breeding programs aimed at improving fruit quality traits.

Assembly of Tomato Rhizobacteria from Different Functional Groups Improves Seedling Photosynthesis and Growth.

The rhizosphere harbors abundant plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) that are vital for plant health. In this study, we screened growth-promoting bacteria from tomato rhizosphere soil, verified their functions, and constructed the optimal combination of growth-promoting bacteria for promoting tomato growth. Furthermore, the effects of these bacteria on various physiological and biochemical parameters of tomato plants were evaluated. A total of 36 strains of rhizobacteria were isolated from tomato rhizosphere soil and their abilities to produce indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), solubilize phosphate and iron carriers were assessed. The bacterial strains with the highest capacities for IAA production (R62, R317), phosphate solubilization (R41, R219), and siderophore production (R25, R325) were selected to form three bacterial combinations: R62 + R219 + R317 + R325 (T1), R62 + R325 (T5), and R317 + R325 (T8). Fifteen days after inoculation, all three combinations showed a stimulatory effect on seedling growth compared to the un-inoculated control. Inoculation with T1, T5 and T8 increased the seedling vigor index by 173.7%, 204.1%, and 168.7%, respectively. Compared to the un-inoculated control, the T1 combination increased the activities of polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase, and the net photosynthetic rate by 132.7%, 18.7%, 58.5%, and upregulated the relative expression levels of the photosynthetic assimilation-related genes RbcL, RbcS, FBPase and FDA by 22.2-, 6.6-, 1.95-, and 2.0-fold, respectively. Our findings provide a potential for constructing rhizobacterial combinations of different functional groups for improving crop growth.

Circ_0050908 up-regulates TRAF3 by sponging miR-324-5p to aggravate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant circular RNAs (circRNAs) expression is closely associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the regulatory functions of circRNAs in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury remain largely undefined. METHODS: We established myocardial I/R model in vitro by oxygen and glucose deprivation and reperfusion in cardiomyocytes. The expression of circ_0050908, microRNA (miR)-324-5p, and TNF receptor-associated factor (TRAF3) was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. The apoptosis was assayed by flow cytometry and Western blot. The activity of interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB), CK, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) was evaluated using the relative commercial kits. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) detection was conducted using Dihydroethidium (DHE) staining. The interactions between miR-324-5p and circ_0050908 or TRAF3 were determined by dual-luciferase activity, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), and pull-down assays. RESULTS: I/R stimulation up-regulated circ_0050908 expression in cardiomyocytes. Functional experiments suggested that circ_0050908 knockdown led to the rescue of apoptosis enhancement, inflammation, and oxidative stress induced by I/R in cardiomyocytes. Mechanistically, circ_0050908 directly targeted miR-324-5p, and miR-324-5p inhibition reversed the inhibitory action of circ_0050908 knockdown on myocardial I/R injury. TRAF3 was verified to be a target of miR-324-5p, and miR-324-5p suppressed I/R-induced apoptosis, inflammatory response, and oxidative stress in cardiomyocytes through TRAF3. Besides that, circ_0050908 could regulate TRAF3 expression by miR-324-5p. CONCLUSION: Circ_0050908 knockdown protects cardiomyocytes against I/R injury by reducing apoptosis, inflammatory response, and oxidative stress through miR-324-5p/TRAF3 axis, revealing a novel therapeutic strategy for preventing myocardial I/R injury.

Pharmaceutical nanoformulation strategies to spatiotemporally manipulate oxidative stress for improving cancer therapies - exemplified by polyunsaturated fatty acids and other ROS-modulating agents.

Chronic oxidative stress and inflammation promote tumorigenesis and tumor progression, while certain chemotherapeutic drugs and radiation are applied to produce free radicals against cancer cells. To reduce tumor-promoting oxidative stress and protect normal tissue from chemotherapy and radiation-associated toxicity, dietary antioxidants, such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), have been combined with cancer therapies. However, the results of clinical studies are mixed with little to no benefit to therapeutic effect, and even exacerbated adverse effects. PUFA can function as a double-edged sword as an anti- or pro-oxidant depending on when and where it appears. Recent publications indicate that nano-formulations can enhance therapeutic benefit of PUFA and other free-radical generating cytotoxic drugs during chemotherapy by controlling oxidative stress within a nanoscale vicinity. This article critically evaluates the concurrent use of dietary omega-3 PUFA as an adjuvant to cancer therapies, reviews the findings in studies using nanoparticle formulations, and delineates the importance of spatiotemporal manipulation of oxidative stress by pharmaceutical nanotechnology for improving outcomes with cancer therapies using various examples. We hope this review will shed light on rational design of nano-formulations to turn harmful pathological oxidative stress into useful pharmacological modalities by manipulating the location and timing of free-radical generation.

Dual-task Stroop Paradigm for Detecting Cognitive Deficits in High-functioning Stroke Patients.

General clinical cognitive assessment scales are not sensitive enough to cognitive impairment in high-functioning stroke patients. The dual-task assessment has advantages for identifying cognitive deficits in high-functioning stroke patients and has been gradually applied in clinical assessment and cognitive training. Moreover, the Stroop paradigm has higher sensitivity and specificity for attentional assessment than conventional clinical cognitive assessment scales. Therefore, this study presents the dual-task assessment based on the Stroop paradigm to identify cognitive deficits in high-functioning stroke patients. This study demonstrates a single- and dual-task evaluation based on the Stroop paradigm and confirms its feasibility through case experiments and synchronized functional near-infrared spectroscopy evaluation. The Stroop reaction time and correct rate are used as the main indicators to evaluate the cognitive level of the subjects. This study protocol aims to provide new ideas to figure out the ceiling effect in general clinical assessment failure for high-functioning stroke patients.

Up-regulation of CTRP12 ameliorates hypoxia/re-oxygenation-induced cardiomyocyte injury by inhibiting apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation via the enhancement of Nrf2 signaling.

C1q/TNF-related protein 12 (CTRP12) has been reported to play a key role in coronary artery disease. However, whether CTRP12 plays a role in the regulation of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury is not fully understood. The goals of this work were to assess the possible relationship between CTRP12 and myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Here, we exposed cardiomyocytes to hypoxia/re-oxygenation (H/R) to establish an in vitro cardiomyocyte injury model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Our results showed that H/R treatment resulted in a decrease in CTRP12 expression in cardiomyocytes. The up-regulation of CTRP12 ameliorated H/R-induced cardiomyocyte injury via the down-regulation of apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation. In contrast, the knockdown of CTRP12 enhanced cardiomyocyte sensitivity to H/R-induced cardiomyocyte injury. Further investigation showed that CTRP12 enhanced the levels of nuclear Nrf2 and increased the expression of Nrf2 target genes in cardiomyocytes exposed to H/R. However, the inhibition of Nrf2 markedly diminished CTRP12-overexpression-mediated cardioprotective effects against H/R injury. Overall, these data indicate that CTRP12 protects against H/R-induced cardiomyocyte injury by inhibiting apoptosis, oxidative stress, and inflammation via the enhancement of Nrf2 signaling. This work suggests a potential role of CTRP12 in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury and proposes it as an attractive target for cardioprotection.

Controlled released of drug from doubled-walled PVA hydrogel/PCL microspheres prepared by single needle electrospraying method.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels have been extensively studied as drug delivery systems. However, due to the high hydrophilicity of PVA, these hydrogels have weak abilities to efficiently load drugs and control the initial burst release. In this study, we present a one-step simple and rapid single needle electrospraying (SNESy) method that combines PVA hydrogels with another biocompatible polymer polycaprolactone (PCL). A distinct core-shell structure was obtained with the PVA hydrogel core and PCL shell after the system was properly set up. The results revealed that the volume ratio between PVA hydrogel and PCL played an important role in determining the particle size and the formation of a spherical structure. The double-walled structure of the microsphere was confirmed by taking the fluorescent images and conducting the ATR-FTIR method. Furthermore, doxorubicin hydrochloride was used as a model drug to evaluate the drug loading capacity and the in vitro release behavior of this PVA hydrogel/PCL microsphere. The results indicated that coating a layer of PCL polymer significantly enhanced the drug loading capacity and reduced the drug initial burst release compared to the single-layer PVA hydrogel nanoparticles, demonstrating these biocompatible double-walled microspheres can be applied as excellent drug delivery carriers.

Does the aura surrounding healthy-related imported products fade in China? ERP evidence for the country-of-origin stereotype.

Chinese consumers' craze about imported products, especially foods and drugs, peaked after various safety incidents, such as the contamination of Chinese dairy products. Recently, this boom has gradually receded because of the constant quality problems of imported products and the stricter safety supervision of domestic products. Researchers have measured consumer's perception toward domestic and imported products in various ways. In the current research, we investigated whether the country-of-origin stereotype has weakened in Chinese young consumers at the neurological level. By using a word-pair paradigm, 21 young participants were required to classify positive or negative words while event-related potentials were recorded. The results showed that reaction time to identify negative words following presentation of imported products (imported-negative condition) was longer than domestic products (domestic-negative condition). The amplitudes of N270 and LPP evoked in the imported-negative condition were significantly larger than those in the domestic-negative condition, possibly reflecting the higher expectation conflict when participate identified the adjectives as negative primed by imported healthy-related products. These findings revealed that young Chinese consumers still evaluated imported products better than domestic products.

De novo sequencing and analysis of the transcriptome during the browning of fresh-cut Luffa cylindrica 'Fusi-3' fruits.

Fresh-cut luffa (Luffa cylindrica) fruits commonly undergo browning. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms regulating this process. We used the RNA-seq technique to analyze the transcriptomic changes occurring during the browning of fresh-cut fruits from luffa cultivar 'Fusi-3'. Over 90 million high-quality reads were assembled into 58,073 Unigenes, and 60.86% of these were annotated based on sequences in four public databases. We detected 35,282 Unigenes with significant hits to sequences in the NCBInr database, and 24,427 Unigenes encoded proteins with sequences that were similar to those of known proteins in the Swiss-Prot database. Additionally, 20,546 and 13,021 Unigenes were similar to existing sequences in the Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups of proteins and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes databases, respectively. Furthermore, 27,301 Unigenes were differentially expressed during the browning of fresh-cut luffa fruits (i.e., after 1-6 h). Moreover, 11 genes from five gene families (i.e., PPO, PAL, POD, CAT, and SOD) identified as potentially associated with enzymatic browning as well as four WRKY transcription factors were observed to be differentially regulated in fresh-cut luffa fruits. With the assistance of rapid amplification of cDNA ends technology, we obtained the full-length sequences of the 15 Unigenes. We also confirmed these Unigenes were expressed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. This study provides a comprehensive transcriptome sequence resource, and may facilitate further studies aimed at identifying genes affecting luffa fruit browning for the exploitation of the underlying mechanism.

Microparticles from Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Impair Vasodilatation by Uncoupling Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase.

OBJECTIVES: Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) save countless acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. However, endothelial injury is still an inevitable complication. Circulating microparticles (MPs) play important roles in vascular dysfunction. Whether PCI affects function of MPs remains unclear. METHODS: MPs were obtained from AMI patients (n = 38) both preoperatively and 24 h after PCI, and healthy subjects (n = 20). MPs origins were tested by flow cytometry. Rat thoracic aortas were incubated with MPs to determine the effects of MPs on phosphorylation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), caveolin-1 expression, eNOS association with heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), generation of nitric oxide (NO) and superoxide anion (O2), and endothelial-dependent vasodilatation. RESULTS: Compared with healthy subjects, MP concentrations increased in AMI patients. Undergoing PCI had no further effect on MPs concentration, but it results in increased endothelial-derived MPs proportion and decreased platelet-derived MP ratio. MPs from AMI patients decreased eNOS phosphorylation at Ser1177, increased eNOS phosphorylation at T495 and caveolin-1 expression, decreased eNOS association with Hsp90, decreased NO production but increased (O2) generation, damaged endothelial-dependent vasodilatation. All of these effects of MPs were strengthened by PCI. CONCLUSIONS: PCI further enhances the vascular injury effect of MPs. Circulating MPs may be a potential therapeutic target for patients undergoing PCI.