Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Eicosapentaenoic Acid or Docosahexaenoic Acid Improved Ageing-Associated Cognitive Decline by Regulating Glial Polarization.

Neuroinflammation induced by microglial and astrocyte polarizations may contribute to neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. Omega (n)-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects, but conflicting results were reported after different n-3 PUFA treatments. This study examined both the change in glial polarizations in ageing rats and the differential effects of two omega-3 PUFAs. The results showed that both PUFAs improved spatial memory in ageing rats, with docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) being more effective than eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). The imbalance between microglial M1/M2 polarizations, such as up-regulating ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 (IBA1) and down-regulating CD206 and arginase-1 (ARG-1) was reversed in the hippocampus by both n-3 PUFAs, while the DHA effect on CD206 was stronger. Astrocyte A1 polarization presented increasing S100B and C3 but decreasing A2 parameter S100A10 in the ageing brain, which were restored by both PUFAs, while DHA was more effective on S100A10 than EPA. Consistent with microglial M1 activation, the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1ß and IL-6 were significantly increased, which were attenuated by DHA, while EPA only suppressed IL-6. In correlation with astrocyte changes, brain-derived neurotrophic factor precursor was increased in ageing rats, which was more powerfully down-regulated by DHA than EPA. In summary, enhanced microglial M1 and astrocytic A1 polarizations may contribute to increased brain pro-inflammatory cytokines, while DHA was more powerful than EPA to alleviate ageing-associated neuroimmunological changes, thereby better-improving memory impairment.

Prediction of apoptosis protein subcellular location based on amphiphilic pseudo amino acid composition.

Introduction: Apoptosis proteins play an important role in the process of cell apoptosis, which makes the rate of cell proliferation and death reach a relative balance. The function of apoptosis protein is closely related to its subcellular location, it is of great significance to study the subcellular locations of apoptosis proteins. Many efforts in bioinformatics research have been aimed at predicting their subcellular location. However, the subcellular localization of apoptotic proteins needs to be carefully studied. Methods: In this paper, based on amphiphilic pseudo amino acid composition and support vector machine algorithm, a new method was proposed for the prediction of apoptosis proteins\x{2019} subcellular location. Results and Discussion: The method achieved good performance on three data sets. The Jackknife test accuracy of the three data sets reached 90.5%, 93.9% and 84.0%, respectively. Compared with previous methods, the prediction accuracies of APACC_SVM were improved.

Interactions among the human and organizational factors within the public sector regarding epidemic prevention and control.

The management of human and organizational factors (HOFs) within the public sector directly concerns the efficacy of epidemic prevention and control (EPC). Insufficient examination of such HOFs has led to defective countermeasures. This study attempts to comprehensively identify the HOFs within the public sector critical to EPC and investigate their interactions with the weighted network theory. A total of 55 HOFs were identified, and their interactions were assessed and visualized in the Chinese context. Then, the established weighted network was analyzed to investigate the interactions and diagnose critical factors and sectors. The analysis shows that there are strong interactions among HOFs, and that the human and organizational risks emerging from administrative departments of public health, centers for disease control and prevention, and medical institutions act as the key risk sources in the complex interconnected EPC system, exacerbating risk and causing a significant domino effect. It is recommended that the authorities devote more resources to the core sectors and endeavor to reinforce those critical HOFs by implementing closer risk communication, collaboration, and response. This study may deepen and broaden the authorities' awareness and understanding of interactions among HOFs regarding epidemic mitigation, and strengthen their capacity to perceive, evaluate, and manage these factors in a proactive and effective way, thereby facilitating the success of EPC.

Informational support, risk perception, anti-pandemic motivation and behavior: a longitudinal study in China.

Mobilizing the public to take anti-pandemic behavior (APB) by strengthening informational support has been recognized as an effective strategy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it remains unclear how health-related informational support from different channels affects individual factors and, thus, the adoption of different types of APB as the pandemic situation changes. To resolve this issue, we build a multiple mediation model to investigate the associations among informational support from three different channels, two individual internal factors, and two kinds of APB. A three-stage longitudinal study administered to Chinese citizens from February to October 2020 revealed that informational support from media played the most critical role in facilitating individuals' adoption of compliance APB, while informational support from family was the most significant predictor of the adoption of participation APB. Meanwhile, these effects were mediated by risk perception and anti-pandemic motivation, and weakened to varying degrees as the pandemic situation eased. It is recommended that authorities adjust the focus of publicity strategies in light of the changing situation, and make efforts to heighten the public's risk perception and anti-pandemic motivation. This study contributes to deepening the understanding of the dynamic efficacy of informational support from different channels on individuals' adoption of two heterogeneous APBs, and thus to the formulation of more scientific, and situation-based publicity strategies during a public health crisis.

Polymers in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) hold great promise as one of the next-generation power supplies for portable electronics and electric vehicles due to their ultrahigh energy density, cost effectiveness, and environmental benignity. However, their practical application has been impeded owing to the electronic insulation of sulfur and its intermediates, serious shuttle effect, large volume variation, and uncontrollable formation of lithium dendrites. Over the past decades, many pioneering strategies have been developed to address these issues via improving electrodes, electrolytes, separators and binders. Remarkably, polymers can be readily applied to all these aspects due to their structural designability, functional versatility, superior chemical stability and processability. Moreover, their lightweight and rich resource characteristics enable the production of LSBs with high-volume energy density at low cost. Surprisingly, there have been few reviews on development of polymers in LSBs. Herein, breakthroughs and future perspectives of emerging polymers in LSBs are scrutinized. Significant attention is centered on recent implementation of polymers in each component of LSBs with an emphasis on intrinsic mechanisms underlying their specific functions. The review offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art polymers for LSBs, provides in-depth insights into addressing key challenges, and affords important resources for researchers working on electrochemical energy systems.

Cleavage of double-strand DNA by linear and triangular trinuclear copper complexes.

Two trinuclear copper(II) complexes with linear or triangular metal-binding pendants, [Cu(3)(L(1))](6+) (1) and [Cu(3)(L(2))](6+) (2), have been synthesized and characterized, where L(1)=N,N,N',N'-tetra[(2-pyridyl)methyl]-5,5'-bis(aminomethyl)-2,2'-dipyridyl, L(2)=N,N,N',N',N'',N''-hexa[(2-pyridyl)methyl]-1,3,5-tris(aminomethyl)-benzene. Interactions of them with calf thymus DNA have been investigated by measuring the changes in the melting temperature. The obtained DeltaT(m) values indicated that both 1 and 2 exhibited very high affinities towards DNA and strong destabilization of DNA, and were far better than their mononuclear analogues. In the absence of any reducing agent, 1 showed markedly higher nuclease activity than 2, and its hydrolytic process was further clarified in the presence of a few of radical scavengers. The pseudo Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters (k(cat)) were determined through DNA cleavage versus the concentration of the complexes, to be 6.05 and 0.19 h(-1) for 1 and 2 respectively. Much higher nuclease activity of 1 is probably attributed to its linear multiple metal sites that fit well to the phosphodiester backbone of nucleic acid. DNA cleavage versus the concentration of DNA shows that rate constants rapidly increase at beginning and then markedly decrease with increasing DNA concentration. It is likely that excess substrates would promote intermolecular interaction between a complex and more plasmid DNA(s) and weaken its intramolecular cooperative effect that is propitious to DNA cleavage.