Fenton-conditioning of landfill leachate biological sludge enables biochar for efficient Cr(â ¥)removal: Occurrence of oxygen-centered free radicals.

Fenton-conditioning is commonly used to improve dewatering ability for municipal biological sludge, however, its application in industries is scarce. In this study, biochar (FT-BC) was successfully synthesized from a Fenton-conditioned landfill leachate biological sludge under oxygen-limited. As compared to the corresponding blank and poly ferric-pretreated biochars (BC and PF-BC), moderate Fenton conditioning of the sludge could enable good removal performance for Cr (Ⅵ) by FT-BC. It was found that the oxygen central free radicals (OCFRs) on the biochar surface was intensively promoted due to Fenton electrophilic addition of ·OH onto the oxygen-containing functional groups in biomass. The amounts of OCFRs correlated positively well with the removal efficiency, indicating these persistent free radicals (PFRs)would mainly responsible for the reductive immobilization of Cr(VI)on the FT-BC surface. This study is expected to provide a new method for reclamation of industrial biological sludges with poor agglomeration by introducing simple Fenton pre-conditioning.

The role of chitosan in promoting the catalytic activity of bismuth ferrite as peroxymonosulfate activator for antibiotics removal.

Chitosan possesses electron-rich amino (-NH2) and hydroxyl (-OH) moieties which can anchor with transition metal ions during synthesis. Herein, chitosan was employed as an additive to prepare bismuth ferrite (BFO) via hydrothermal approach. The characterization studies revealed that adding chitosan during BFO synthesis leads to the creation of more oxygen vacancies. The performance of chitosan modified BFO (CMB) was evaluated as peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activator for ciprofloxacin (CIP) removal. Apparently, the addition of 10 wt% chitosan during BFO synthesis (CMB-10) resulted in 1.7 times increase of performance compared to the pristine BFO. Increasing the catalyst loading and PMS dosage resulted in positive effect with 5.7 and 1.9 times rate enhancement, respectively. The CMB-10 exhibited tolerance against pH variation, water matrix, and interfering species. The scavenging experiments indicated that singlet oxygen (1O2), superoxide radicals (O2•-) and sulfate radicals (SO4•-) played a major role in CIP degradation. These reactive oxygen species were generated from PMS activation via Fe3+/Fe2+ and Bi5+/Bi3+ coupling, and oxygen vacancies on the catalyst surface. The CIP degradation pathways were also elucidated based on the detected CIP intermediates. Overall, this study provides insights into the use of chitosan to prepare sustainable materials for pollutants removal via PMS activation.

Magnetic raspberry-like CuCo nanoalloy-embedded carbon as an enhanced activator of Oxone to degrade azo contaminant: Cu-induced hollowed structure and boosted activities.

Azo compounds, particularly azo dyes, are widely used but pose significant environmental risks due to their persistence and potential to form carcinogenic by-products. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are effective in degrading these stubborn compounds, with Oxone activation being a particularly promising method. In this study, a unique nanohybrid material, raspberry-like CuCo alloy embedded carbon (RCCC), is facilely fabricated using CuCo-glycerate (Gly) as a template. With the incorporation of Cu into Co, RCCC is essentially different from its analogue derived from Co-Gly in the absence of Cu, affording a popcorn-like Co embedded on carbon (PCoC). RCCC exhibits a unique morphology, featuring a hollow spherical layer covered by nanoscale beads composed of CuCo alloy distributed over carbon. Therefore, RCCC significantly outperforms PCoC and Co3O4 for activating Oxone to degrade the toxic azo contaminant, Azorubin S (AS), in terms of efficiency and kinetics. Furthermore, RCCC remains highly effective in environments with high NaCl concentrations and can be efficiently reused across multiple cycles. Besides, RCCC also leads to the considerably lower Ea of AS degradation than the reported Ea values by other catalysts. More importantly, the contribution of incorporating Cu with Co as CuCo alloy in RCCC is also elucidated using the Density-Function-Theory (DFT) calculation and synergetic effect of Cu and Co in CuCo contributes to enhance Oxone activation, and boosts generation of SO4•-and •OH. The decomposition pathway of AS by RCCC + Oxone is also comprehensively investigated by studying the Fukui indices of AS and a series of its degradation by-products using the DFT calculation. In accordance to the toxicity assessment, RCCC + Oxone also considerably reduces acute and chronic toxicities to lower potential environmental impact. These results ensure that RCCC would be an advantageous catalyst for Oxone activation to degrade AS in water.

Covalent Organic Frameworks for Electrocatalysis：Design, Applications, and Perspectives.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an innovative class of crystalline porous polymers composed of light elements such as C, N, O, etc., linked by covalent bonds. The distinctive properties of COFs, including designable building blocks, large specific surface area, tunable pore size, abundant active sites, and remarkable stability, have led their widespread applications in electrocatalysis. In recent years, COF-based electrocatalysts have made remarkable progress in various electrocatalytic fields, including the hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, nitrogen reduction reaction, nitrate reduction reaction, and carbon dioxide reduction reaction. This review begins with an introduction to the design and synthesis strategies employed for COF-based electrocatalysts. These strategies include heteroatom doping, metalation of COF and building monomers, encapsulation of active sites within COF pores, and the development of COF-based derived materials. Subsequently, a systematic overview of the recent advancements in the application of COF-based catalysts in electrocatalysis is presented. Finally, the review discusses the main challenges and outlines possible avenues for the future development of COF-based electrocatalysts.

Dual-Responsive Epigenetic Inhibitor Nanoprodrug Combined with Oncolytic Virus Synergistically Boost Cancer Immunotherapy by Igniting Gasdermin E-Mediated Pyroptosis.

Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising approach for the treatment of various cancers. However, the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) limits the efficacy of current immunotherapies. In this study, we designed a dual-responsive DNA methyltransferase inhibitor nanoprodrug ACNPs for combination therapy with oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV). We found that the epigenetic inhibitor 5-Azacytidine (5-Aza) upregulated gasdermin E (GSDME) expression at the gene level, whereas the oHSV decreased the ubiquitination and degradation of GSDME to elevate its levels. Based on these observations, we further discovered that ACNPs and oHSV synergistically enhanced GSDME-mediated pyroptosis. Additionally, the combination therapy of ACNPs and oHSV effectively inhibited tumor growth, remodeled the immunosuppressive TME, and improved the efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy. These results demonstrate the potential to overcome immunosuppression through synergistic combinations, offering a promising approach for cancer immunotherapy.

Entropy-Engineered Middle-In Synthesis of Dual Single-Atom Compounds for Nitrate Reduction Reaction.

Despite the immense potential of Dual Single-Atom Compounds (DSACs), the challenges in their synthesis process, including complexity, stability, purity, and scalability, remain primary concerns in current research. Here, we present a general strategy, termed "Entropy-Engineered Middle-In Synthesis of Dual Single-Atom Compounds" (EEMIS-DSAC), which is meticulously crafted to produce a diverse range of DSACs, effectively addressing the aforementioned issues. Our strategy integrates the advantages of both bottom-up and top-down paradigms, proposing an insight into optimizing the catalyst structure. The as-fabricated DSACs exhibited excellent activity and stability in the nitrate reduction reaction (NO3RR). In a significant advancement, our prototypical CuNi DSACs demonstrated outstanding performance under conditions reminiscent of industrial wastewater. Specifically, under a NO3- concentration of 2000 ppm, it yielded a Faradaic efficiency (FE) for NH3 of 96.97%, coupled with a mass productivity of 131.47 mg h-1 mg-1 and an area productivity of 10.06 mg h-1 cm-2. Impressively, even under a heightened NO3- concentration of 0.5 M, the FE for NH3 peaked at 90.61%, with a mass productivity reaching 1024.50 mg h-1 mg-1 and an area productivity of 78.41 mg h-1 cm-2. This work underpins the potential of the EEMIS-DSAC approach, signaling a frontier for high-performing DSACs.

Sulforaphane Inhibits Oxidative Stress and May Exert Anti-Pyroptotic Effects by Modulating NRF2/NLRP3 Signaling Pathway in Mycobacterium tuberculosis-Infected Macrophages.

Sulforaphane (SFN) is a natural isothiocyanate derived from cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. SFN plays a crucial role in maintaining redox homeostasis by interacting with the active cysteine residues of Keap1, leading to the dissociation and activation of NRF2 in various diseases. In this study, our objective was to investigate the impact of SFN on oxidative stress and pyroptosis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-infected macrophages. Our findings demonstrated that Mtb infection significantly increased the production of iNOS and ROS, indicating the induction of oxidative stress in macrophages. However, treatment with SFN effectively suppressed the expression of iNOS and COX-2 and reduced MDA and ROS levels, while enhancing GSH content as well as upregulating NRF2, HO-1, and NQO-1 expression in Mtb-infected RAW264.7 macrophages and primary peritoneal macrophages from WT mice. These results suggest that SFN mitigates oxidative stress by activating the NRF2 signaling pathway in Mtb-infected macrophages. Furthermore, excessive ROS production activates the NLRP3 signaling pathway, thereby promoting pyroptosis onset. Further investigations revealed that SFN effectively suppressed the expression of NLRP3, Caspase-1, and GSDMD, IL-1ß, and IL-18 levels, as well as the production of LDH, suggesting that it may exhibit anti-pyroptotic effects through activation of the NRF2 signaling pathway and reductions in ROS production during Mtb infection. Moreover, we observed that SFN also inhibited the expression of NLRP3, ASC, Caspase1, and IL-1ß along with LDH production in Mtb-infected primary peritoneal macrophages from NFR2-/- mice. This indicates that SFN can directly suppress NLRP3 activation and possibly inhibit pyroptosis initiation in an NRF2-independent manner. In summary, our findings demonstrate that SFN exerts its inhibitory effects on oxidative stress by activating the NRF2 signaling pathway in Mtb-infected macrophages, while it may simultaneously exert anti-pyroptotic properties through both NRF2-dependent and independent mechanisms targeting the NLRP3 signaling pathway.

Harnessing cerium-based biomaterials for the treatment of bone diseases.

Bone, an actively metabolic organ, undergoes constant remodeling throughout life. Disturbances in the bone microenvironment can be responsible for pathologically bone diseases such as periodontitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. Conventional bone tissue biomaterials are not adequately adapted to complex bone microenvironment. Therefore, there is an urgent clinical need to find an effective strategy to improve the status quo. In recent years, nanotechnology has caused a revolution in biomedicine. Cerium(III, IV) oxide, as an important member of metal oxide nanomaterials, has dual redox properties through reversible binding with oxygen atoms, which continuously cycle between Ce(III) and Ce(IV). Due to its special physicochemical properties, cerium(III, IV) oxide has received widespread attention as a versatile nanomaterial, especially in bone diseases. This review describes the characteristics of bone microenvironment. The enzyme-like properties and biosafety of cerium(III, IV) oxide are also emphasized. Meanwhile, we summarizes controllable synthesis of cerium(III, IV) oxide with different nanostructural morphologies. Following resolution of synthetic principles of cerium(III, IV) oxide, a variety of tailored cerium-based biomaterials have been widely developed, including bioactive glasses, scaffolds, nanomembranes, coatings, and nanocomposites. Furthermore, we highlight the latest advances in cerium-based biomaterials for inflammatory and metabolic bone diseases and bone-related tumors. Tailored cerium-based biomaterials have already demonstrated their value in disease prevention, diagnosis (imaging and biosensors) and treatment. Therefore, it is important to assist in bone disease management by clarifying tailored properties of cerium(III, IV) oxide in order to promote the use of cerium-based biomaterials in the future clinical setting. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: In this review, we focused on the promising of cerium-based biomaterials for bone diseases. We reviewed the key role of bone microenvironment in bone diseases and the main biological activities of cerium(III, IV) oxide. By setting different synthesis conditions, cerium(III, IV) oxide nanostructures with different morphologies can be controlled. Meanwhile, tailored cerium-based biomaterials can serve as a versatile toolbox (e.g., bioactive glasses, scaffolds, nanofibrous membranes, coatings, and nanocomposites). Then, the latest research advances based on cerium-based biomaterials for the treatment of bone diseases were also highlighted. Most importantly, we analyzed the perspectives and challenges of cerium-based biomaterials. In future perspectives, this insight has given rise to a cascade of cerium-based biomaterial strategies, including disease prevention, diagnosis (imaging and biosensors) and treatment.

Sustainable H2O2 production in a floating dual-cathode electro-Fenton system for efficient decontamination of organic pollutants.

Electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) based on natural air diffusion electrode (NADE) promise efficient and affordable advanced oxidation water purification, but the sustainable operation of such reaction systems remains challenging due to severe cathode electrowetting. Herein, a novel floating cathode (FC) composed of a stable hydrophobic three-phase interface was established by designing a flexible catalytic layer of FC. This innovative electrode configuration could effectively prolong the service life of the cathode by mitigating the interference of H2 bubbles from the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), and the H2O2 production rate reached 37.59 mg h-1·cm-2 and realize a long-term stable operation for 10 h. Additionally, an FC/carbon felt (CF) dual-cathode electro-Fenton system was constructed for in situ sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. Efficient H2O2 production on FC and Fe(III) reduction on CF were synchronously achieved, attaining excellent degradation efficiency for both SMX (ca. 100%) with 2.5 mg L-1 of Fe(Ⅱ) injection. For real wastewater, the COD removal of the FC/CF dual-cathode electro-Fenton system was stabilized at exceeding 75%. The practical application potential of the FC/CF dual-cathode electro-Fenton system was also demonstrated for the treatment of actual landfill leachate in continuous flow mode. This work provides a valuable path for constructing a sustainable dual-cathode electro-Fenton system for actual wastewater treatment.

Fn-OMV potentiates ZBP1-mediated PANoptosis triggered by oncolytic HSV-1 to fuel antitumor immunity.

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) show promise as a cancer treatment by selectively replicating in tumor cells and promoting antitumor immunity. However, the current immunogenicity induced by OVs for tumor treatment is relatively weak, necessitating a thorough investigation of the mechanisms underlying its induction of antitumor immunity. Here, we show that HSV-1-based OVs (oHSVs) trigger ZBP1-mediated PANoptosis (a unique innate immune inflammatory cell death modality), resulting in augmented antitumor immune effects. Mechanistically, oHSV enhances the expression of interferon-stimulated genes, leading to the accumulation of endogenous Z-RNA and subsequent activation of ZBP1. To further enhance the antitumor potential of oHSV, we conduct a screening and identify Fusobacterium nucleatum outer membrane vesicle (Fn-OMV) that can increase the expression of PANoptosis execution proteins. The combination of Fn-OMV and oHSV demonstrates potent antitumor immunogenicity. Taken together, our study provides a deeper understanding of oHSV-induced antitumor immunity, and demonstrates a promising strategy that combines oHSV with Fn-OMV.

Association Between Neuroinflammation and Parkinson's Disease: A Comprehensive Mendelian Randomization Study.

The objective of the study is to determine the causal relationship and potential mechanisms between Parkinson's disease (PD) and neuroinflammatory and neurotoxic mediators. We conducted two-sample Mendelian randomization (2SMR) study and multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) analysis to investigate the causality between PD and neuroinflammatory and neurotoxic mediators. The mediation analysis with MR was also conducted to determine the potential mediating effect of neuroinflammatory and neurotoxic mediators between asthma and PD. Genetically predicted levels of nine neuroinflammation were associated with changes in PD risk. The associations of PD with CCL24, galectin-3 levels, haptoglobin, and Holo-Transcobalamin-2 remained significant in multivariable analyses. The mediation analysis with MR revealed that asthma affects PD through CCL24 and galectin-3. The results showed neuroinflammation could affect the pathogenesis of PD. In the combined analysis of these nine variables, CCL24, galectin-3 levels, HP, and Holo-Transcobalamin-2 alone were found to be significant. Asthma plays an intermediary role through CCL24 and galectin-3 levels.

Chemical control of CRISPR/Cpf1 editing via orthogonal activation and deactivation of crosslinked crRNA.

Through the integration of CRISPR/Cpf1 with optogenetics and a reduction-responsive motif, we have developed a photoactivatable cross-linked crRNA that enables precise genome editing upon light exposure. This system also allows for termination of editing activity through external application of reducing agent. The dual-stimuli-responsive CRISPR/Cpf1 editing process operates in a unique OFF → ON → OFF sequence, making it a valuable tool for investigating time-sensitive biological events.

Recent advances in catalyst design, performance, and challenges of metal-heteroatom-co-doped biochar as peroxymonosulfate activator for environmental remediation.

The escalation of global water pollution due to emerging pollutants has gained significant attention. To address this issue, catalytic peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation technology has emerged as a promising treatment approach for effectively decontaminating a wide range of pollutants. Recently, modified biochar has become an increasingly attractive as PMS activator. Metal-heteroatom-co-doped biochar (MH-BC) has emerged as a promising catalyst that can provide enhanced performance over heteroatom-doped and metal-doped biochar due to the synergism between metal and heteroatom in promoting PMS activation. Therefore, this review aims to discuss the fabrication pathways (i.e., internal vs external doping and pre-vs post-modification) and key parameters (i.e., source of precursors, synthesis methods, and synthesis conditions) affecting the performance of MH-BC as PMS activator. Subsequently, an overview of all the possible PMS activation pathways by MH-BC is provided. Subsequently, Also, the detection, identification, and quantification of several reactive species (such as, •OH, SO4•-, O2•-, 1O2, and high valent oxo species) generated in the catalytic PMS system by MH-BC are also evaluated. Lastly, the underlying challenges associated with poor stability, the lack of understanding regarding the interaction between metal and heteroatom during PMS activation and quantification of radicals in multi-ROS system are also deliberated.

Study on the lignin-derived sp2-sp3 hybrid hard carbon materials and the feasibility for industrial production.

Hard carbon has been widely used in anode of lithium/sodium ion battery, electrode of supercapacitor, and carbon molecular sieve for CO2 capture and hydrogen storage. In this study the lignin derived hard carbon products are investigated, and the conclusions are abstracted as follows. (1) The lignin derived hard carbon products consist of microcrystal units of sp2 graphene fragments, jointed by sp3 carbon atoms and forming sp2-sp3 hybrid hard carbon family. (2) From the lignin precursors to the sp2-sp3 hybrid hard carbon products, most carbon atoms retain their original electron configurations (sp2 or sp3) and keep their composition in lignin. (3) The architectures of lignin-derived hard carbon materials are closely dependent on the forms of their lignin precursors, and could be preformed by different pretreatment techniques. (4) The carbonization of lignin precursors follows the mechanism "carbonization in situ and recombination nearby". (5) Due to the high carbon ratio and abundant active functional groups in lignin, new activation techniques could be developed for control of pore size and pore volume. In general lignin is an excellent raw material for sp2-sp3 hybrid hard carbon products, a green and sustainable alternative resource for phenolic resin, and industrial production for lignin derived hard carbon products would be feasible.

Analysis of the Relationship Between Parkinson's Disease and Diabetic Retinopathy Based on Bioinformatics Methods.

The objective of the study was to explore the relationship and potential mechanism between Parkinson's disease (PD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) using bioinformatics methods. We first examined the causal relationship between PD and DR by Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis. The datasets of PD and DR patients from the Gene Expression Omnibus database were used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Then, we performed the Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes, and immune infiltration analysis. We also constructed a protein-protein interaction network and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Finally, an online website was used for drug prediction. The MR analysis demonstrated a causal relationship between DR and PD (odds ratio [OR] = 0.86; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.79-0.93; p = 3.24E - 04), in which DR acted as a protective factor against PD. There were 81 DEGs identified from the PD and DR datasets, of which 29 genes had protein interaction relationships, and enrichment analysis showed that these genes were mainly related to immune pathways. As indicated by immune cell infiltration analysis, the expression of immune cells between PD and the control group was significantly different. ROC curve results showed five genes had diagnostic value, and several potential chemical compounds were predicted to target the genes. Our findings demonstrate a reduced risk of PD in patients with DR. We also found that PD and DR are closely related in terms of inflammation, which provides clues for further exploring the common mechanisms and interaction of these two diseases.

Syringaldehyde Exhibits Antibacterial and Antioxidant Activities against Mycobacterium marinum Infection.

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), which has a unique resistance to many antimicrobial agents. TB has emerged as a significant worldwide health issue because of the rise of multidrug-resistant strains causing drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). As a result, the development of new drugs or effective strategies is crucial for patients with TB. Mycobacterium marinum (Mm) and Mtb are both species of mycobacteria. In zebrafish, Mm proliferates and forms chronic granulomatous infections, which are similar to Mtb infections in lung tissue. Syringaldehyde (SA) is a member of the phenolic aldehyde family found in various plants. Here, we investigated its antioxidative and antibacterial properties in Mm-infected cells and zebrafish. Our results demonstrated that SA inhibits Mm-infected pulmonary epithelial cells and inhibits the proliferation of Mm in Mm-infected zebrafish, suggesting that SA provides an antibacterial effect during Mm infection. Further study demonstrated that supplementation with SA inhibits the production of malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases the levels of reduced glutathione (GSH) in Mm-infection-induced macrophages. SA inhibits the levels of MDA in Mm-infected zebrafish, suggesting that SA exerts antioxidative effects in vivo. Additionally, we found that SA promotes the expression of NRF2/HO-1/NQO-1 and the activation of the AMPK-α1/AKT/GSK-3ß signaling pathway. In summary, our data demonstrated that SA exerts antioxidative and antibacterial effects during Mm infection both in vivo and in vitro and that the antioxidative effects of SA may be due to the regulation of NRF2/HO-1/NQO-1 and the AMPK-α1/AKT/GSK-3ß signaling pathway.

ANGPTL4 accelerates ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma carcinogenesis and angiogenesis in the tumor microenvironment by activating the JAK2/STAT3 pathway and interacting with ESM1.

BACKGROUND: Ovarian cancer (OC) is a malignant neoplasm that displays increased vascularization. Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) is a secreted glycoprotein that functions as a regulator of cell metabolism and angiogenesis and plays a critical role in tumorigenesis. However, the precise role of ANGPTL4 in the OC microenvironment, particularly its involvement in angiogenesis, has not been fully elucidated. METHODS: The expression of ANGPTL4 was confirmed by bioinformatics and IHC in OC. The potential molecular mechanism of ANGPTL4 was measured by RNA-sequence. We used a series of molecular biological experiments to measure the ANGPTL4-JAK2-STAT3 and ANGPTL4-ESM1 axis in OC progression, including MTT, EdU, wound healing, transwell, xenograft model, oil red O staining, chick chorioallantoic membrane assay and zebrafish model. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms were confirmed by Western blot, Co-IP and molecular docking. RESULTS: Our study demonstrates a significant upregulation of ANGPTL4 in OC specimens and its strong association with unfavorable prognosis. RNA-seq analysis affirms that ANGPTL4 facilitates OC development by driving JAK2-STAT3 signaling pathway activation. The interaction between ANGPTL4 and ESM1 promotes ANGPTL4 binding to lipoprotein lipase (LPL), thereby resulting in reprogrammed lipid metabolism and the promotion of OC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In the OC microenvironment, ESM1 may interfere with the binding of ANGPTL4 to integrin and vascular-endothelial cadherin (VE-Cad), which leads to stabilization of vascular integrity and ultimately promotes angiogenesis. CONCLUSION: Our findings underscore that ANGPTL4 promotes OC development via JAK signaling and induces angiogenesis in the tumor microenvironment through its interaction with ESM1.

miR-4687-5p Affects Intracellular Survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis through Its Regulation of NRAMP1 Expression in A549 Cells.

Tuberculosis (TB), as one of the leading causes of death, poses a serious predicament to the world. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. It has been reported that the expression of miRNAs changes upon mycobacterial infection; the screening and identification of miRNAs regulating the expression of genes could benefit our understanding of TB pathogenesis and generate effective strategies for its control and prevention. In this study, luciferase assays showed that miR-4687-5p is bound to the 3'-untranslated region of natural resistance-associated macrophage protein 1 (NRAMP1). Additionally, we found a significant increase in miR-4687-5p expression in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-infected A549 cells. Concomitantly, we detected a reduced level of NRAMP1 expression, suggesting that NRAMP1 is one of the targets of miR-4687-5p. Infection experiments evidenced that the transfection of miR-4687-5p induced a decrease in NRAMP1 expression and increased intracellular Mtb loads post-infection, indicating that miR-4687-5p promotes the intracellular survival of Mtb through its downregulation of the NRAMP1 protein level. We also found that the transfection of miR-4687-5p induced increased apoptosis and decreased cell proliferation post-infection with Mtb. The results presented in our study suggest that miR-4687-5p may be indicative of the susceptibility of Mtb infection to humans and could act as a potential therapeutic target for tuberculosis treatment.

Retinal Layer Segmentation in OCT Images With Boundary Regression and Feature Polarization.

The geometry of retinal layers is an important imaging feature for the diagnosis of some ophthalmic diseases. In recent years, retinal layer segmentation methods for optical coherence tomography (OCT) images have emerged one after another, and huge progress has been achieved. However, challenges due to interference factors such as noise, blurring, fundus effusion, and tissue artifacts remain in existing methods, primarily manifesting as intra-layer false positives and inter-layer boundary deviation. To solve these problems, we propose a method called Tightly combined Cross-Convolution and Transformer with Boundary regression and feature Polarization (TCCT-BP). This method uses a hybrid architecture of CNN and lightweight Transformer to improve the perception of retinal layers. In addition, a feature grouping and sampling method and the corresponding polarization loss function are designed to maximize the differentiation of the feature vectors of different retinal layers, and a boundary regression loss function is devised to constrain the retinal boundary distribution for a better fit to the ground truth. Extensive experiments on four benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance in dealing with problems of false positives and boundary distortion. The proposed method ranked first in the OCT Layer Segmentation task of GOALS challenge held by MICCAI 2022. The source code is available at https://www.github.com/tyb311/TCCT.

Double-Shelled Open Hollow Metal-Organic Frameworks for Efficient Aqueous Zn-Ion Batteries.

Multi-shelled hollow metal-organic frameworks (MH-MOFs) are highly promising as electrode materials due to their impressive surface area and efficient mass transfer capabilities. However, the fabrication of MH-MOFs has remained a formidable challenge. In this study, two types of double-shelled open hollow Prussian blue analogues, one with divalent iron (DHPBA-Fe(II)) and the other with trivalent iron (DHPBA-Fe(III)), through an innovative inner-outer growth strategy are successfully developed. The growth mechanism is found to involve lattice matching growth and ligand exchange processes. Subsequently, DHPBA-Fe(II) and DHPBA-Fe(III) are employed as cathodes in aqueous Zn-ion batteries. Significantly, DHPBA-Fe(II) demonstrated exceptional performance, exhibiting a capacity of 92.5 mAh g-1 at 1 A g-1, and maintaining remarkable stability over an astounding 10 000 cycles. This research is poised to catalyze further exploration into the fabrication techniques of MH-MOFs and offer fresh insights into the intricate interplay between electronic structure and battery performance.