Electroacupuncture attenuates neuropathic pain via suppressing BIP-IRE-1α-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress in the anterior cingulate cortex.

Studies have suggested that endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) is involved in neurological dysfunction and that electroacupuncture (EA) attenuates neuropathic pain (NP) via undefined pathways. However, the role of ERS in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in NP and the effect of EA on ERS in the ACC have not yet been investigated. In this study, an NP model was established by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the left sciatic nerve in rats, and mechanical and cold tests were used to evaluate behavioral hyperalgesia. The protein expression and distribution were evaluated using western blotting and immunofluorescence. The results showed that glucose-regulated protein 78 (BIP) and inositol-requiring enzyme 1α (IRE-1α) were co-localized in neurons in the ACC. After CCI, BIP, IRE-1α, and phosphorylation of IRE-1α were upregulated in the ACC. Intra-ACC administration of 4-PBA and Kira-6 attenuated pain hypersensitivity and downregulated phosphorylation of IRE-1α, while intraperitoneal injection of 4-PBA attenuated hyperalgesia and inhibited the activation of P38 and JNK in ACC. In contrast, ERS activation by intraperitoneal injection of tunicamycin induced behavioral hyperalgesia in naive rats. Furthermore, EA attenuated pain hypersensitivity and inhibited the CCI-induced overexpression of BIP and pIRE-1α. Taken together, these results demonstrate that EA attenuates NP by suppressing BIP- and IRE-1α-mediated ERS in the ACC. Our study presents novel evidence that ERS in the ACC is implicated in the development of NP and provides insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in the analgesic effect of EA.

Methane emission and influencing factors of China's oil and natural gas sector in 2020-2060: A source level analysis.

The Chinese oil and gas industry requires targeted policies to reduce methane emissions. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to predict future methane emission trends and analyze the factors that influence them. However, changing economic development patterns, insufficient analysis of various factors influencing emissions, and inadequate resolution of methane emission inventories have made these goals difficult to achieve. Accordingly, this study aims to expand the methane emission estimation method to compile source-level emission inventories for future emissions, analyze the factors influencing them, and form a mechanistic understanding of the methane emissions from the local oil and gas industry. The research results indicate that methane emissions deriving from this industry will increase rapidly before 2030, after which they will decline slowly in all scenarios. The production and utilization processes in the natural gas supply chain, i.e., compressors and liquid unloading, include the main sources of methane emissions. Emissions are affected significantly by total production and consumption. Change in the overall supply and demand of natural gas affects change in methane emissions more significantly than adopting new technologies and strengthening facility maintenance, i.e., the overall supply and demand of natural gas are the dominant factors in controlling methane emissions. This study suggests that controlling the total demand for oil and gas should be at the core of the methane emission control policy for the local oil and gas industry. Moreover, equipment maintenance and emission reduction technologies should be used more effectively to reduce total emissions.

Neuropathologic damage induced by radiofrequency ablation at different temperatures.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the molecular mechanism of neuropathologic damage induced by radiofrequency ablation at different temperatures. METHODS: This is basic research, and 36 SD rats were used to construct the neuropathological injury model. The rats were subjected to radiofrequency stimulation at different temperatures and were divided into 6 groups according to the temperature injury: 42°, 47°, 52°, 57°, 62°, and 67°C groups. Conduction time, conduction distance, and nerve conduction velocity were recorded after temperature injury. HE-staining was used to observe the histopathological morphology of the sciatic nerve. The expression of SCN9A, SCN3B, and NFASC protein in sciatic nerve tissue were detected by western blot. RESULTS: With the increase in temperature, nerve conduction velocity gradually decreased, and neurons were damaged when the temperature was 67°C. HE-staining showed that the degrees of degeneration of neurons in rats at 47°, 52°, 57°, 62°, and 67°C were gradually increased. The expression of SCN9A, SCN3B protein in 57°, 62°, 67°C groups were much higher than that of NC, 42°, 47°, 52°C groups. However, the expression of NFASC protein in 57°, 62°, 67°C groups was much lower than that of the NC, 42°, 47°, 52°C groups. CONCLUSION: There was a positive correlation between temperature caused by the radiofrequency stimulation to neuropathological damage. The mechanism is closely related to the expression of SCN9A, SCN3B, and NFASC protein in nerve tissue caused by heat transfer injury.

Realizing ambitions: A framework for iteratively assessing and communicating national decarbonization progress.

A growing number of governments are pledging to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century. Despite such ambitions, realized emissions reductions continue to fall alarmingly short of modeled energy transition pathways for achieving net-zero. This gap is largely a result of the difficulty of realistically modeling all the techno-economic and sociopolitical capabilities that are required to deliver actual emissions reductions. This limitation of models suggests the need for an energy-systems analytical framework that goes well beyond energy-system modeling in order to close the gap between ambition and reality. Toward that end, we propose the Emissions-Sustainability-Governance-Operation (ESGO) framework for structured assessment and transparent communication of national capabilities and realization. We illustrate the critical role of energy modeling in ESGO using recent net-zero modeling studies for the world's two largest emitters, China and the United States. This illustration leads to recommendations for improvements to energy-system modeling to enable more productive ESGO implementation.

Neuropathologic damage induced by radiofrequency ablation at different temperatures

Abstract Objective To explore the molecular mechanism of neuropathologic damage induced by radiofrequency ablation at different temperatures. Methods This is basic research, and 36 SD rats were used to construct the neuropathological injury model. The rats were subjected to radiofrequency stimulation at different temperatures and were divided into 6 groups according to the temperature injury: 42°, 47°, 52°, 57°, 62°, and 67°C groups. Conduction time, conduction distance, and nerve conduction velocity were recorded after temperature injury. HE-staining was used to observe the histopathological morphology of the sciatic nerve. The expression of SCN9A, SCN3B, and NFASC protein in sciatic nerve tissue were detected by western blot. Results With the increase in temperature, nerve conduction velocity gradually decreased, and neurons were damaged when the temperature was 67°C. HE-staining showed that the degrees of degeneration of neurons in rats at 47°, 52°, 57°, 62°, and 67°C were gradually increased. The expression of SCN9A, SCN3B protein in 57°, 62°, 67°C groups were much higher than that of NC, 42°, 47°, 52°C groups. However, the expression of NFASC protein in 57°, 62°, 67°C groups was much lower than that of the NC, 42°, 47°, 52°C groups. Conclusion There was a positive correlation between temperature caused by the radiofrequency stimulation to neuropathological damage. The mechanism is closely related to the expression of SCN9A, SCN3B, and NFASC protein in nerve tissue caused by heat transfer injury.

Exergy Analysis of Coal-Based Series Polygeneration Systems for Methanol and Electricity Co-Production.

This paper quantifies the exergy losses of coal-based series polygeneration systems and evaluates the potential efficiency improvements that can be realized by applying advanced technologies for gasification, methanol synthesis, and combined cycle power generation. Exergy analysis identified exergy losses and their associated causes from chemical and physical processes. A new indicator was defined to evaluate the potential gain from minimizing exergy losses caused by physical processes-the degree of perfection of the system's thermodynamic performance. The influences of a variety of advanced technical solutions on exergy improvement were analyzed and compared. It was found that the overall exergy loss of a series polygeneration system can be reduced significantly, from 57.4% to 48.9%, by applying all the advanced technologies selected. For gasification, four advanced technologies were evaluated, and the largest reduction in exergy loss (about 2.5 percentage points) was contributed by hot gas cleaning, followed by ion transport membrane technology (1.5 percentage points), slurry pre-heating (0.91 percentage points), and syngas heat recovery (0.6 percentage points). For methanol synthesis, partial shift technology reduced the overall exergy loss by about 1.4 percentage points. For power generation, using a G-class gas turbine decreased the overall exergy loss by about 1.6 percentage points.

Quercetin Inhibits the Proliferation of Glycolysis-Addicted HCC Cells by Reducing Hexokinase 2 and Akt-mTOR Pathway.

Increased glycolysis in tumor cells is associated with increased risk of tumor progression and mortality. Therefore, disruption of glycolysis, one of the main sources of cellular energy supply, can serve as a target for suppressing tumor growth and progression. Of note, hexokinase-2 (HK2) plays vital roles in glucose metabolism. Moreover, the expression of HK2 alters the metabolic phenotype and supports the continuous growth of tumor cells, making it an attractive target for cancer therapy. Quercetin (QUE), a bioactive flavonoid, has a profound anti-tumor effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the precise underlying mechanism of this effect is unclear. In the present study, we reported that QUE inhibited the proliferation of HCC cells that relied on aerobic glycolysis. We further found that QUE could decrease the protein levels of HK2 and suppress the AKT/mTOR pathway in HCC cells. In addition, QUE significantly restrained the growth of HCC xenografts and decreased HK-2 expression in vivo. Taken together, we have revealed that QUE suppresses the progression of HCC by inhibiting HK2-dependentglycolysis, which may have a promising potential to be an effective treatments for HCC, especially for those patients with high HK2 expression.

Mechanical characteristics of medical grade UHMWPE under dynamic compression.

The mechanical properties of medical grade ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) are critical for the safety and integrity of UHMWPE implantation. Accordingly, the mechanical features of UHMWPE are tested under repeated stress-controlled and strain-controlled compression at room temperature. Some important effect factors, such as stress rate, mean stress, stress amplitude, strain rate, mean strain, strain range and multiple load steps are further considered in detail. Results indicate that the lower stress rate causes the greater accumulated plastic strain and the accumulated plastic strain rate becomes increasingly lower with increasing number of cycles. The strain range and accumulated plastic strain rate decrease rapidly in the first stage, and then become almost steady during the second stage. Especially, the accumulated plastic strain rate per cycle for each case is less than 0.01 %/cycle after the initial 100 cycles. This means that the plastic strain accumulates very slowly and the shakedown behavior always occurs. Moreover, obvious cyclic softening and stress relaxation behaviors can be observed under cyclic strain-controlled compression during the first 50 cycles. This indicates that the accumulated plastic stain in the initial 100 cycles and the cyclic stress relaxation during the first 50 cycles should be assessed for the functionality of UHMWPE implantation.

Upregulation of H19 promotes invasion and induces epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in esophageal cancer.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have previously been reported to be involved in cancer invasion, proliferation and apoptosis. However, the association between the lncRNA, H19, and esophageal cancer (EC) has remained elusive. In the present study, reverse transcription quantitative-polymerase chain reaction revealed that the expression of H19 was significantly increased and associated with tumor depth and metastasis in 133 EC samples. Furthermore, MTT and Transwell assays revealed that overexpression of H19 in vitro promoted the proliferation and invasion of EC cell lines, whereas knockdown of H19 inhibited the proliferation and invasion of EC cell lines. In addition, it was identified that an upregulation of H19 induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, while the opposite effect was observed following the downregulation of H19. In conclusion, H19 has a significant role in the development of EC and may serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for EC.