STEAP2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma progression via increased copper levels and stress-activated MAP kinase activity.

Six Transmembrane Epithelial Antigen of Prostate 2 (STEAP2) belongs to a family of metalloreductases, which indirectly aid in uptake of iron and copper ions. Its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be characterized. Here, we report that STEAP2 expression was upregulated in HCC tumors compared with paired adjacent non-tumor tissues by RNA sequencing, RT-qPCR, Western blotting, and immunostaining. Public HCC datasets demonstrated upregulated STEAP2 expression in HCC and positive association with tumor grade. Transient and stable knockdown (KD) of STEAP2 in HCC cell lines abrogated their malignant phenotypes in vitro and in vivo, while STEAP2 overexpression showed opposite effects. STEAP2 KD in HCC cells led to significant alteration of genes associated with extracellular matrix organization, cell adhesion/chemotaxis, negative enrichment of an invasiveness signature gene set, and inhibition of cell migration/invasion. STEAP2 KD reduced intracellular copper levels and activation of stress-activated MAP kinases including p38 and JNK. Treatment with copper rescued the reduced HCC cell migration due to STEAP2 KD and activated p38 and JNK. Furthermore, treatment with p38 or JNK inhibitors significantly inhibited copper-mediated cell migration. Thus, STEAP2 plays a malignant-promoting role in HCC cells by driving migration/invasion via increased copper levels and MAP kinase activities. Our study uncovered a novel molecular mechanism contributing to HCC malignancy and a potential therapeutic target for HCC treatment.

Balanced Mass Transfer and Active Sites Density in Hierarchical Porous Catalytic Metal-Organic Framework for Enhancing Redox Reaction in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Developing highly efficient catalysts, characterized by controllable pore architecture and effective utilization of active sites, is paramount in addressing the shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs), which, however, remains a formidable challenge. In this study, a hierarchical porous catalytic metal-organic framework (HPC-MOF) with both appropriate porosity and abundant exposed catalytic sites is achieved through time-controlled precise pore engineering. It is revealed that the evolution of the porous structure and catalytic site density is time-dependent during the etching processes. The moderately etched HPC-MOF-M attains heterogeneous pores at various scales, where large apertures ensure fast mass transfer and micropores inherit high-density catalytic sites, enhancing utilization and catalytic kinetics at internal catalytic sites. Capitalizing on these advantages, LSB incorporating the HPC-MOF-M interlayer demonstrates a 164.6% improvement in discharge capability and an 83.3% lower decay rate over long-term cycling at 1.0C. Even under high sulfur loading of 7.1 mg cm-2 and lean electrolyte conditions, the LSB exhibits stable cycling for over 100 cycles. This work highlights the significance of balancing the relationship between mass transfer and catalytic sites through precise chemical regulation of the porous structure in catalytic MOFs, which are anticipated to inspire the development of advanced catalysts for LSBs.

KAT6A deficiency impairs cognitive functions through suppressing RSPO2/Wnt signaling in hippocampal CA3.

Intellectual disability (ID) affects ~2% of the population and ID-associated genes are enriched for epigenetic factors, including those encoding the largest family of histone lysine acetyltransferases (KAT5-KAT8). Among them is KAT6A, whose mutations cause KAT6A syndrome, with ID as a common clinical feature. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unknown. Here, we find that KAT6A deficiency impairs synaptic structure and plasticity in hippocampal CA3, but not in CA1 region, resulting in memory deficits in mice. We further identify a CA3-enriched gene Rspo2, encoding Wnt activator R-spondin 2, as a key transcriptional target of KAT6A. Deletion of Rspo2 in excitatory neurons impairs memory formation, and restoring RSPO2 expression in CA3 neurons rescues the deficits in Wnt signaling and learning-associated behaviors in Kat6a mutant mice. Collectively, our results demonstrate that KAT6A-RSPO2-Wnt signaling plays a critical role in regulating hippocampal CA3 synaptic plasticity and cognitive function, providing potential therapeutic targets for KAT6A syndrome and related neurodevelopmental diseases.

Co-contamination and interactions of multiple mycotoxins and heavy metals in rice, maize, soybeans, and wheat flour marketed in Shanghai City.

Mycotoxins and heavy metals extensively contaminate grains and grain products, posing severe health risks. This work implements validated ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) methods to quantify the concentration of 12 mycotoxins and five heavy metals in rice, maize, soybeans, and wheat flour samples marketed in Shanghai. The mixed contamination characteristics were analyzed using correlation cluster analysis and co-contamination index, and the probabilities of all cross combinations of contaminations were analyzed using a self-designed JAVA language program. The results showed that grains and grain products were frequently contaminated with both mycotoxins and heavy metals, mostly with deoxynivalenol (DON), 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-ADON), 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15-ADON), ochratoxin A (OTA), aflatoxins, fumonisin B1 (FB1), fumonisin B2 (FB2), fumonisin B3 (FB3), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd). All the samples (100 %) were contaminated with two or more contaminants, and 77.3 % of the samples were co-contaminated with more than four contaminants. In cereals and cereal products, the following combinations were closely associated: (FB3 +3-ADON), (FB1 +As), (FB1 +FB2), (DON+FB1), (DON+Cd), (As+Cd), (DON+Cd+As), (FB1 +FB2 +As), and (DON+3-ADON+15-ADON). The results indicated that mycotoxins and heavy metals frequently co-occurred in Shanghai grains and grain products, and they provided primary data for safety assessments, early warnings, and regulatory measures on these contaminants to protect public health.

[Determination of adenosine content in heart tissue by ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry].

A method based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the rapid and accurate determination of adenosine (Ado) in cardiac tissues with high sensitivity and specificity. The samples were dissolved in 1 mL of ultrapure water containing 10 µmol/L 2-hydroxy-3-nonyladenine hydrochloride (EHNA) as a stabilizer, ground at low temperature for 2 min, and then ultrasonically extracted at 60 Hz in an ice-water bath for 40 min. Methanol and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution were used as the mobile phases under a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min, a column temperature of 40 ℃ and an injection volume of 3 µL. The Ado in cardiac tissue was qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by electrospray ionization (ESI) positive-ion-switching in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. A solvent standard curve and the external standard method were used for the accurate quantification of Ado. The results showed that the matrix effect of Ado in cardiac tissue was very low. A good linear relationship was obtained in the range of 0.1-160 ng/mL, and the correlation coefficient (r2) was 0.9930. The limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.03 and 0.1 ng/mL, respectively. The spiked recoveries of Ado in murine cardiac tissue were 113.6%, 96.3%, and 102.9% at three spiked levels of low, medium, and high, respectively. The intra-day repeatability (RSDs) were 1.7%-8.4%, and the inter-day reproducibility (RSDs) were 2.6%-7.4%. Based on the correlation and consistency results, a positive bias was observed between the proposed UPLC-MS/MS method and the double-antibody sandwich method. Moreover, the Ado contents detected by these two methods were significantly positively correlated (P<0.0001). Cardiac tissue samples were collected from 17 mice and 17 rats and detected in our laboratory. The content ranges of Ado in the cardiac tissues of mice and rats determined by the developed UPLC-MS/MS method were 3.25-8.78 mg/kg and 10.24-15.19 mg/kg, respectively (average adenosine contents: 5.37 and 12.60 mg/kg, respectively). The developed method is simple, accurate, sensitive, and it is suitable for the determination of Ado in cardiac tissues. It also provides important technical support for cardiac clinical research and disease diagnosis.

Daytime aspartame intake results in larger influences on body weight, serum corticosterone level, serum/cerebral cytokines levels and depressive-like behaviors in mice than nighttime intake.

Aspartame (APM) is one of the most widely used artificial sweeteners worldwide. Studies have revealed that consuming APM may negatively affect the body, causing oxidative stress damage to multiple organs and leading to various neurophysiological symptoms. However, it's still unclear if consuming APM and one's daily biological rhythm have an interactive effect on health. In this study, healthy adult C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into four groups: Control group (CON), oral gavage sham group (OGS), daytime APM intragastric group (DAI) and nighttime APM intragastric group (NAI). DAI and NAI groups were given 80 mg/kg body weight daily for 4 weeks. We found that DAI and NAI groups had significantly increased mean body weight, higher serum corticosterone levels, up-regulated pro-inflammatory responses in serum and brain, and exacerbated depressive-like behaviors than the CON and the two APM intake groups. Moreover, all these changes induced by APM intake were more significant in the DAI group than in the NAI group. The present study, for the first time, revealed that the intake of APM and daily biological rhythm have an interactive effect on health. This suggests that more attention should be paid to the timing of APM intake in human beings, and this study also provides an intriguing clue to the circadian rhythms of experimental animals that researchers should consider more when conducting animal experiments.

Screening and dietary exposure assessment of T-2 toxin and its modified forms in commercial cereals and cereal-based products in Shanghai.

A reliable and sensitive UPLC-MS/MS method coupled with HLB-SPE was developed for simultaneous determination of T-2 and its modified forms (HT-2, NEO, T-2-triol, T-2-tetraol, T-2-3G, and HT-2-3G) in cereals and cereal-based products. Acceptable linearity (R2 ≥ 0.99), limits of quantitation (0.5-10.0 µg/kg), intra-day precision (RSD < 12.8 %), inter-day precision (RSD ≤ 15.8 %), and recovery (76.8 %-115.2 %) were obtained for all analytes in all matrices investigated. 107 commercial foodstuffs were analyzed, and T-2 was detected in 29.0 % of maize and maize flour samples (0.51 to 56.61 µg/kg) and in 10-33.3 % of wheat flour and barley samples (1.27 to 78.51 µg/kg). Moreover, 66.7 % of the positive samples were simultaneously contaminated with two or more T-2 forms. The possible health risk related to T-2 and its modified forms in cereals and cereal-based products was evaluated using a probabilistic dietary exposure assessment. The 95th percentile dietary exposure values of the sum of T-2 forms ranged from 0.16 to 1.70 ng/kg b.w./day for lower bound (LB), and 0.17 to 7.59 ng/kg b.w./day for upper bound (UB). Results strongly suggested that the presence of T-2 and its modified forms in cereals and cereal-based products warrants greater attention and investigation, although probabilistic dietary exposure values currently remain below the tolerable daily intake (TDI) value of 20 ng/kg b.w./day.

HM_ADET: a hybrid model for automatic detection of eyelid tumors based on photographic images.

BACKGROUND: The accurate detection of eyelid tumors is essential for effective treatment, but it can be challenging due to small and unevenly distributed lesions surrounded by irrelevant noise. Moreover, early symptoms of eyelid tumors are atypical, and some categories of eyelid tumors exhibit similar color and texture features, making it difficult to distinguish between benign and malignant eyelid tumors, particularly for ophthalmologists with limited clinical experience. METHODS: We propose a hybrid model, HM_ADET, for automatic detection of eyelid tumors, including YOLOv7_CNFG to locate eyelid tumors and vision transformer (ViT) to classify benign and malignant eyelid tumors. First, the ConvNeXt module with an inverted bottleneck layer in the backbone of YOLOv7_CNFG is employed to prevent information loss of small eyelid tumors. Then, the flexible rectified linear unit (FReLU) is applied to capture multi-scale features such as texture, edge, and shape, thereby improving the localization accuracy of eyelid tumors. In addition, considering the geometric center and area difference between the predicted box (PB) and the ground truth box (GT), the GIoU_loss was utilized to handle cases of eyelid tumors with varying shapes and irregular boundaries. Finally, the multi-head attention (MHA) module is applied in ViT to extract discriminative features of eyelid tumors for benign and malignant classification. RESULTS: Experimental results demonstrate that the HM_ADET model achieves excellent performance in the detection of eyelid tumors. In specific, YOLOv7_CNFG outperforms YOLOv7, with AP increasing from 0.763 to 0.893 on the internal test set and from 0.647 to 0.765 on the external test set. ViT achieves AUCs of 0.945 (95% CI 0.894-0.981) and 0.915 (95% CI 0.860-0.955) for the classification of benign and malignant tumors on the internal and external test sets, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides a promising strategy for the automatic diagnosis of eyelid tumors, which could potentially improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

Neonatal IL-4 Over-Exposure is Accompanied by Macrophage Accumulation in Dura Mater After Instant Anti-inflammatory Cytokine Response in CSF.

Multiple studies have shown that clinical events resulting into neonatal IL-4 over-exposure, such as asthma in early life and food allergy, were associated with brain damage and that the neuroinflammation induced by them might lead to cognitive impairments, anxiety-/depressive-like behaviors. IL-4 is the most major elevated cytokine in periphery when these clinical events occur and peripheral IL-4 level positively correlates with the severity of those events. Our previous studies have verified that neonatal IL-4 over-exposure induced a delayed neuroinflammatory damage in rodents, which might have adverse implications for brain development and cognition. Neuroinflammation in brain parenchyma is often accompanied by changes in CSF cytokines levels. However, whether the cytokines levels in CSF change after neonatal IL-4 over-exposure is unknown. Here, we found a delayed pro-inflammatory cytokines response (higher IL-6, IL-1ß and, TNF levels) in both hippocampus and CSF after an instant anti-inflammatory cytokine response in IL-4 over-exposed rats. Moreover, the pro-inflammatory cytokines response appeared earlier in CSF than in hippocampus. The level of each of the pro-inflammatory cytokines in CSF positively correlated with that in hippocampus at the age of postnatal day 42. More microglia numbers/activation and higher M-CSF level in the hippocampus in IL-4 over-exposed rats were also observed. Furthermore, there were more macrophages with inflammatory activation in dural mater of IL-4 over-exposed rats. In sum, neonatal IL-4 over-exposure in rats induces delayed inflammation in CSF, suggesting CSF examination may serve as a potential method in predicting delayed neuroinflammation in brain following neonatal IL-4 over-exposure.

Multimodal Engineering of Catalytic Interfaces Confers Multi-Site Metal-Organic Framework for Internal Preconcentration and Accelerating Redox Kinetics in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

The development of highly efficient catalysts to address the shuttle effect and sluggish redox kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) remains a formidable challenge. In this study, a series of multi-site catalytic metal-organic frameworks (MSC-MOFs) were elaborated through multimodal molecular engineering to regulate both the reactant diffusion and catalysis processes. MSC-MOFs were crafted with nanocages featuring collaborative specific adsorption/catalytic interfaces formed by exposed mixed-valence metal sites and surrounding adsorption sites. This design facilitates internal preconcentration, a coadsorption mechanism, and continuous efficient catalytic conversion toward polysulfides concurrently. Leveraging these attributes, LSBs with an MSC-MOF-Ti catalytic interlayer demonstrated a 62 % improvement in discharge capacity and cycling stability. This resulted in achieving a high areal capacity (11.57 mAh cm-2 ) at a high sulfur loading (9.32 mg cm-2 ) under lean electrolyte conditions, along with a pouch cell exhibiting an ultra-high gravimetric energy density of 350.8 Wh kg-1 . Lastly, this work introduces a universal strategy for the development of a new class of efficient catalytic MOFs, promoting SRR and suppressing the shuttle effect at the molecular level. The findings shed light on the design of advanced porous catalytic materials for application in high-energy LSBs.

Weakened black carbon trans-boundary transport to the Tibetan Plateau during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lockdowns implemented during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic provide a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of emission sources and meteorological conditions on the trans-boundary transportation of black carbon (BC) aerosols to the Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study, we conducted an integrative analysis, including in-situ observational data, reanalysis datasets, and numerical simulations, and found a significant reduction in the trans-boundary transport of BC to the TP during the 2020 pre-monsoon season as a result of the lockdowns and restrictive measures. Specifically, we observed a decrease of 0.0211 µgm-3 in surface BC concentration over the TP compared to the 2016 pre-monsoon period. Of this reduction, approximately 6.04 % can be attributed to the decrease in emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic, surpassing the 4.47 % decrease caused by changes in meteorological conditions. Additionally, the emission reductions have weakened the trans-boundary transport of South Asia BC to the TP by 0.0179 µgm-2s-1; indicating that the recurring spring atmospheric pollution from South Asia to the TP will be alleviated through the reduction of anthropogenic emissions. Moreover, it is important to note that BC deposition on glaciers contributes significantly to glacier melting due to its enrichment, posing a threat to the water sustainability of the TP. Therefore, urgent measures are needed to reduce emissions from adjacent regions to preserve the TP as the "Asian Water Tower."

Potential Toxicity and Mechanisms of T-2 and HT-2 Individually or in Combination on the Intestinal Barrier Function of Porcine Small Intestinal Epithelial Cells.

Under natural conditions, T-2 toxin can be easily metabolized to HT-2 toxin by deacetylation, and T-2 and HT-2 are usually co-contaminated in grain and feed at a high detected rate. Our previous information indicated that T-2 toxin could injure the function of the intestinal barrier, but the combined toxicity and mechanism of T-2 and HT-2 on the intestinal cells of porcines are still unknown. Therefore, we aimed to explore T-2 and HT-2 individually and combined on cellular viability, cell membrane integrity, the expression of tight junction-related proteins, and the generation of inflammatory factors in porcine intestinal epithelial cells (IPEC-J2). The results showed that T-2 and HT-2, individually or in combination, could induce a decrease in cell viability, an increase in LDH release and IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α generation, and a decrease in the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10. Based on the analysis of immunofluorescence staining, real-time PCR, and western blotting, the tight junction protein expressions of Claudin-1, Occludin, and ZO-1 were significantly decreased in the T-2 and HT-2 individual or combination treated groups compared with the control. Furthermore, all the parameter changes in the T-2 + HT-2 combination group were much more serious than those in the individual dose groups. These results suggest that T-2 and HT-2, individually and in combination, could induce an intestinal function injury related to an inflammatory response and damage to the intestinal barrier function in porcine intestinal epithelial cells. Additionally, T-2 and HT-2 in combination showed a synergistic toxic effect, which will provide a theoretical basis to assess the risk of T-2 + HT-2 co-contamination in porcine feed.

Echocardiographic multiparameter assessment for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and atrial fibrillation.

We aimed to assess the echocardiographic parameters of cardiac structure and function in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and atrial fibrillation (AF). Thirty-seven HFpEF patients with AF were selected, while 38 patients with simple HFpEF in the same period were selected as controls. Three-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed on both groups and the parameters were compared. The early diastolic longitudinal peak strain rates [early diastolic longitudinal strain rate (LSRE), early diastolic circumferential strain rate (CSRE), early diastolic radial strain rate (RSRE) and early diastolic rotational strain rate (RotRE)], late diastolic longitudinal peak strain rates (LSRA, CSRA, RSRA and RotRA) and untwisting parameters [untwisting rate during isovolumic relaxation time (UTRIVR) and early peak untwisting rate (UTRE)] were all negatively correlated with the ratio of early diastolic transmitral velocity to early diastolic mitral annular velocity ( E/E') (p < 0.01). The cardiac event-free survival rate of the simple HFpEF group (92.11%) was significantly higher than that of the HFpEF + AF group (81.08%) (p < 0.0001). UTRIVR had a more significant correlation with E/E' ratio than the other indicators and could serve as a sensitive indicator for evaluating the diastolic function of patients with HFpEF + AF.

Hepatotoxicity evaluation and possible mechanisms of decabrominated diphenyl ethers (BDE-209) in broilers: Oxidative stress, inflammatory, and transcriptomics.

Decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209), a persistent organic pollutant, is linked to a great number of health problems, the most severe of which impact the liver due to its role in the elimination and degradation of exogenous harmful substances. Though the hepatotoxicity of BDE-209 has been observed, its underlying mechanism is yet unknown. The purpose of this study is to thoroughly investigate the hepatotoxicity of BDE-209 and its molecular processes in broilers by subjecting 120 male broilers to varied concentrations of BDE-209 for 42 days. We observed that the bioaccumulation of BDE-209 in the liver in a dose-dependent manner, and that BDE-209 exposure can raise the concentrations of ALT, AST, and GGT, accompanied by hepatocyte fatty degeneration and inflammatory foci. In the hepatic homogenates, oxidative stress was evidenced by elevated levels of MDA and ROS and decreased activies of SOD and CAT. Additionally, pro-inflammatory cytokines including IL-1, IL-1ß, TNF-α, IL-8 levels were increased, whereas anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 level was declined. Furthermore, RNA sequencing revealed that genes involved in inflammation were considerably dysregulated, and real-time PCR verified the expressed alterations of numerous genes related to the MAPK and WNT signaling pathways. The protein concentrations of NF-κB, ß-catenin, and WNT5A, and the phosphorylation levels of JNK and ERK were all dramatically enhanced. The current study indicates that BDE-209 exposure can cause hepatotoxicity in broilers via bioaccumulation and oxidative stress, which then activates the MAPK and WNT signaling pathways, subsequently generating inflammation and hepatic injury.

First Report of Root Rot on Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis caused by Fusarium solani in Yunnan, China.

Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis is a perennial herb with diverse chemical components having wide-ranging pharmacological effects. The demand for P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis as a raw material increases greatly and currently exceeds 1,000 tons per year (Zhou et al. 2021). In September 2021, root rot was observed on P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis in Mangshi, Yunnan province, China. Average disease incidences in the fields reached 15%, with diseased plants exhibiting yellowing and wilting leaves, as well as browning and rotting roots. Cross sections (5 × 5 mm2) cut from the margin of symptomatic and asymptomatic root tissues were surface-sterilized for 30 s with 75% ethanol, followed by 180 s with 1% sodium hypochlorite. After rinsing thrice with sterile distilled water, the fragments were transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates and incubated at 28°C in the dark. Ten isolates were obtained, and single spore isolation was performed. These isolates showed similar morphological characters, with colonies ranging in color from white to pale cream and sparse mycelia. Conidia were produced on the top or side of phialides. Microconidia were oval or reniform, 0- or 1-septate, with a diameter of 5.1-10.7 µm × 1.6-3.9 µm (average 7.6 µm × 2.8 µm) (n=30). The macroconidia were straight to slightly curved or sickle-shaped, 3- to 5-septate, with a diameter of 15.1-27.9 µm × 2.8-4.0 µm (average 21.0 µm × 3.6 µm). Chlamydospores were smooth, nearly round, and 3.3-6.6 (average 4.9) µm in diameter. Genomic DNA were extracted from mycelia of the two isolates. The nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1α), and the second largest subunit of nuclear DNA-directed RNA polymerase II (RPB2) were amplified with the primer pairs of ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF1-728F/EF1-986R (Carbone and Kohn 1999), and fRPB2-5F/fRPB2-7cR (Liu et al. 1999), respectively. These two isolates exhibited the same nucleotide sequences (ITS, OP646781; EF1α, OP661172; RPB2, OP661173), with BLASTn analyses showing 100%, 99.66%, and 99.65% identity, respectively, with Fusarium solani (syn. Neocosmospora solani) (Crespo et al. 2019) strain NRRL 43474 (ITS, EF453097; EF1α, EF452945; RPB2, EF469984). A phylogenetic tree was constructed using MEGAX based on the nucleotide sequences of ITS, EF1α, and RPB2, using the maximum likelihood method. The isolate was classified into the F. solani clade. According to the morphology and sequence analyses, the isolate was identified as F. solani (Chehri et al. 2015), and named PpFs1. To test the pathogenicity of the isolate PpFs1, the roots of four years old P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis plants were dipped in 107 spore/mL suspension filtered from potato dextrose broth (PDB) for 30 min, while control roots were dipped in sterile water. After inoculation, all plants were transplanted in pots filled with sterile soil and kept at 25°C with a 12/12-h light/darkness photoperiod. Six plants were used for each treatment, and repeated thrice. Two months after inoculation, the infected plants showed wilted leaves and rotted roots, while controls remained asymptomatic. PpFs1, identified by morphology and ITS, was re-isolated from infected plants, and was found to comply with Koch's postulates. To the best of our knowledge, F. oxysporum and F. concentricum causes Paris polyphylla var. Chinensis stem rot in China. But this is the first report of root rot on P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis being caused by F. solani in Yunnan, China.

Oral exposure to an acceptable daily intake dose of aspartame induced a delayed proinflammatory cytokine response in the cerebrospinal fluid of rats.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of exposure to aspartame (ASP) at safe levels on proinflammatory cytokines in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of rats. Sprague Dawley rats were sacrificed after 1, 2, 4 or 8 week(s) of continuous exposure to ASP (40 mg/kg body weight). Serum, CSF and brain tissue samples were prepared, and the levels of the IL-1ß, IL-6 and TNF-α were analyzed by ELISA. In serum, the levels of all three cytokines showed a two-phase alteration, a decrease followed by an increase in the ASP group. In the brain, their levels increased from the second or fourth week compared with the control group. In CSF, the levels of these cytokines showed a similar change to that in brain tissue, but the increase appeared at a later time point. For each cytokine, there was a significant positive correlation between its levels in serum, brain tissue and CSF. This is the first discovery that ASP exposure increased the levels of proinflammatory cytokines in CSF in rats, which emerged later than in blood and brain tissue. This study suggests the necessity of conducting related clinical studies to evaluate potential neuroinflammatory effects induced by chronic ASP exposure through CSF analysis.

Type A Trichothecene Metabolic Profile Differentiation, Mechanisms, Biosynthetic Pathways, and Evolution in Fusarium Species-A Mini Review.

Trichothecenes are the most common Fusarium toxins detected in grains and related products. Type A trichothecenes are among the mycotoxins of greatest concern to food and feed safety due to their high toxicity. Recently, two different trichothecene genotypes within Fusarium species were reported. The available information showed that Tri1 and Tri16 genes are the key determinants of the trichothecene profiles of T-2 and DAS genotypes. In this review, polymorphisms in the Tri1 and Tri16 genes in the two genotypes were investigated. Meanwhile, the functions of genes involved in DAS and NEO biosynthesis are discussed. The possible biosynthetic pathways of DAS and NEO are proposed in this review, which will facilitate the understanding of the synthesis process of trichothecenes in Fusarium strains and may also inspire researchers to design and conduct further research. Together, the review provides insight into trichothecene profile differentiation and Tri gene evolutionary processes responsible for the structural diversification of trichothecene produced by Fusarium.

Dust dominates glacier darkening across majority of the Tibetan Plateau based on new measurements.

Rapid retreat and darkening of most glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are enhanced by the deposition of light-absorbing particles (LAPs). Here, we provided new knowledge on the estimation of albedo reduction caused by black carbon (BC), water-insoluble organic carbon (WIOC), and mineral dust (MD), based on a comprehensive study of snowpit samples from ten glaciers across the TP collected in the spring of 2020. According to the albedo reductions caused by the three LAPs, the TP was divided into three sub-regions: the eastern and northern margins, Himalayas and southeastern TP, and western to inner TP. Our findings indicated that MD had a dominant role in causing snow albedo reductions across the western to inner TP, with comparable effects to WIOC but stronger effects than BC in the Himalayas and southeastern TP. BC played a more important role in the eastern and northern margins of the TP. In conclusion, the findings of this study emphasize not only the important role of MD in glacier darkening across majority of the TP but also the influence of the WIOC in enhancing glacier melting which indicates the dominant contribution of non-BC components in the LAP-related glacier melting of the TP.