Catalytic infrared radiation dry-peeling Technology for non-Frozen and Frozen Grapes: Effects on temperature, peeling performance, and quality attributes.

This study introduces catalytic infrared radiation (CIR) heating technology as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional grape lye peeling (LP). The effects of heating time and distance on non-frozen and frozen grapes were assessed for temperature, peeling performance, and quality attributes. The findings indicate that CIR heating achieves complete dry-peeling of grapes. Extended heating times and reduced distances improve peeling performance, with more favorable results observed in frozen grapes compared to non-frozen ones. Grapes peeled using CIR demonstrated enhanced hardness, color, sugar-acid ratio, bioactive compounds, and antioxidant capacity, compared to those peeled using LP. Importantly, the frozen samples preserved their quality after CIR dry-peeling treatment. Based on peeling performance and quality attributes, the optimum heating times are established at 160 s for non-frozen grapes and 50 s for frozen grapes, at a heating distance of 5 cm. Therefore, CIR dry-peeling is recommended as an eco-friendly and quality-enhancing sustainable grape processing technology.

High-efficient depletion and separation of histidine-rich proteins via Cu2+-chelated porous polymer microspheres.

Depletion and separation of histidine-rich proteins from complicated biosamples are crucial for various downstream applications in proteome research and clinical diagnosis. Herein, porous polymer microspheres coated with polyacrylic acid (SPSDVB-PAA) were fabricated through double emulsion interfacial polymerization technique and followed by immobilization of Cu2+ ions on the surface of SPSDVB-PAA. The as-prepared SPSDVB-PAA-Cu with uniform size and nanoscale pore structure enabled coordination interaction of Cu2+ with histidine residues in his-rich proteins, resulting in high-performance adsorption. As metal affinity adsorbent, the SPSDVB-PAA-Cu exhibited favorable selectivity for adsorbing hemoglobin (Hb) and human serum albumin (HSA) with the maximum adsorption capacities of 152.2 and 100.7 mg g-1. Furthermore, the polymer microspheres were used to isolate histidine-rich proteins from human whole blood and plasma, underscoring their effectiveness. The liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) results indicated that the content of 14 most abundant proteins in human plasma was depleted from 81.6 % to 30.7 % and low-abundance proteins were enriched from 18.4 % to 69.3 % after treatment with SPSDVB-PAA-Cu, illustrating potential application of SPSDVB-PAA-Cu in proteomic research.

AI-powered microscopy image analysis for parasitology: integrating human expertise.

Microscopy image analysis plays a pivotal role in parasitology research. Deep learning (DL), a subset of artificial intelligence (AI), has garnered significant attention. However, traditional DL-based methods for general purposes are data-driven, often lacking explainability due to their black-box nature and sparse instructional resources. To address these challenges, this article presents a comprehensive review of recent advancements in knowledge-integrated DL models tailored for microscopy image analysis in parasitology. The massive amounts of human expert knowledge from parasitologists can enhance the accuracy and explainability of AI-driven decisions. It is expected that the adoption of knowledge-integrated DL models will open up a wide range of applications in the field of parasitology.

Wireless Intelligent Patch for Closed-loop In Situ Wound Management.

Wound infections pose a major healthcare issue, affecting the well-being of millions of patients worldwide. Effective intervention and on-site detection are important in wound management. However, current approaches are hindered by time-consuming analysis and a lack of technology for real-time monitoring and prompt therapy delivery. In this study, a smart wound patch system (SWPS) designed for wireless closed-loop and in-situ wound management is presented. The SWPS integrates a microfluidic structure, an organic electrochemical transistor (OECT) based sensor, an electrical stimulation module, and a miniaturized flexible printed circuit board (FPCB). The OECT incorporates a bacteria-responsive DNA hydrogel-coated gate for continuous monitoring of bacterial virulence at wound sites. Real-time detection of OECT readings and on-demand delivery of electrical cues to accelerate wound healing is facilitated by a mobile phone application linked with an FPCB containing low-power electronics equipped with parallel sensing and stimulation circuitry. In this proof-of-concept study, the functionality of the SWPS is validated and its application both in vitro and in vivo is demonstrated. This proposed system expands the arsenal of tools available for effective wound management and enables personalized treatment.

Air quality modeling in the metropolitan area of São Paulo, Brazil: A review.

Numerous studies have used air quality models to estimate pollutant concentrations in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) by using different inputs and assumptions. Our objectives are to summarize these studies, compare their performance, configurations, and inputs, and recommend areas of further research. We examined 29 air quality modeling studies that focused on ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) performed over the MASP, published from 2001 to 2023. The California Institute of Technology airshed model (CIT) was the most used offline model, while the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) was the most used online model. Because the main source of air pollution in the MASP is the vehicular fleet, it is commonly used as the only anthropogenic input emissions. Simulation periods were typically the end of winter and during spring, seasons with higher O3 and PM2.5 concentrations. Model performance for hourly ozone is good with half of the studies with Pearson correlation above 0.6 and root mean square error (RMSE) ranging from 7.7 to 27.1 ppb. Fewer studies modeled PM2.5 and their performance is not as good as ozone estimates. Lack of information on emission sources, pollutant measurements, and urban meteorology parameters is the main limitation to perform air quality modeling. Nevertheless, researchers have used measurement campaign data to update emission factors, estimate temporal emission profiles, and estimate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aerosol speciation. They also tested different emission spatial disaggregation approaches and transitioned to global meteorological reanalysis with a higher spatial resolution. Areas of research to explore are further evaluation of models' physics and chemical configurations, the impact of climate change on air quality, the use of satellite data, data assimilation techniques, and using model results in health impact studies. This work provides an overview of advancements in air quality modeling within the MASP and offers practical approaches for modeling air quality in other South American cities with limited data, particularly those heavily impacted by vehicle emissions.

Construction and validation of a clinical risk model based on machine learning for screening characteristic factors of lymphovascular space invasion in endometrial cancer.

This study aimed to identify factors that affect lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) in endometrial cancer (EC) using machine learning technology, and to build a clinical risk assessment model based on these factors. Samples were collected from May 2017 to March 2022, including 312 EC patients who received treatment at Xuzhou Medical University Affiliated Hospital of Lianyungang. Of these, 219 cases were collected for the training group and 93 for the validation group. Clinical data and laboratory indicators were analyzed. Logistic regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were used to analyze risk factors and construct risk models. The LVSI and non-LVSI groups showed statistical significance in clinical data and laboratory indicators (P < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified independent risk factors for LVSI in EC, which were myometrial infiltration depth, cervical stromal invasion, lymphocyte count (LYM), monocyte count (MONO), albumin (ALB), and fibrinogen (FIB) (P < 0.05). LASSO regression identified 19 key feature factors for model construction. In the training and validation groups, the risk scores for the logistic and LASSO models were significantly higher in the LVSI group compared with that in the non-LVSI group (P < 0.001). The model was built based on machine learning and can effectively predict LVSI in EC and enhance preoperative decision-making. The reliability of the model was demonstrated by the significant difference in risk scores between LVSI and non-LVSI patients in both the training and validation groups.

Prognostic significance of compliance with fractional flow reserve guidance on diverse vessel-related clinical outcomes.

Background: In patients underwent fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment, a noteworthy proportion of adverse events occur in vessels in which FFR has not been measured. However, the effect of these non-target vessel-related events on the evaluation of FFR-related benefits remains unknown. Methods and results: In this retrospective study, vessels subjected to FFR measurement were grouped as FFR-based approach and non-compliance with FFR based on whether they received FFR-based treatment. Using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to account for potential confounding, we investigated the association between compliance with FFR and 5-year target vessel failure (TVF) non-target vessel failure (NTVF) and vessel-oriented composite endpoints (VOCEs). Of the 1,119 vessels, 201 did not receive FFR-based treatment. After IPTW adjustment, a significantly lower hazard of TVF was observed in the FFR-based approach group (HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.34-0.92). While, the intergroup difference in hazard of NTVF (HR: 1.02; 95% CI: 0.45-2.31) and VOCEs (HR: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.45-1.05) were nonsignificant. Conclusions: In patients with CAD subjected to FFR, the FFR-based treatment yields a sustained clinical benefit in terms of the risks of target vessel-related events. The dilution of non-target vessel-related events renders the difference favoring the FFR-based approach nonsignificant.

Effects of acupuncture for Bell's palsy patients in the acute phase and its impact on facial nerve edema: a study protocol for a randomized, controlled trial.

Background: Bell's palsy is an acute peripheral facial neuropathy, which is one of the most common causes of facial palsy of lower motor neurons. Facial nerve swelling is commonly observed in Bell's palsy. Acupuncture therapy has been widely used in the treatment of Bell's palsy. However, whether acupuncture can be effectively used in the acute stage is still controversial. There are no clinical trials conducted previously to evaluate the effect of acupuncture on facial nerve edema in Bell's palsy patients. The study aims to evaluate the potential efficacy of different acupuncture modalities on Bell's palsy patients in the acute phase, its effect on facial nerve edema, and to preliminarily explore its possible mechanism. Methods and analysis: In this randomized, controlled trial, 165 Bell's palsy patients with unilateral onset within 3 days will be recruited and randomly assigned to either the electroacupuncture group (n = 33), the acupuncture group (n = 33), the sham acupuncture group (n = 33), the blank control group (n = 33), or the acupuncture control group (n = 33) in a 1:1:1:1:1 ratio. The participants will receive 4 weeks of treatment and 8 weeks of follow-up. The five groups of participants will receive the following treatments: A: Electroacupuncture + Medication (prednisone acetate tablets, mecobalamin tablets, and vitamin B1 tablets); B: Acupuncture + Medication; C: Sham Acupuncture + Medication; D: Medication only; and E: Acupuncture only. The primary outcome will be the effectiveness rate of different acupuncture modalities in improving facial nerve function after the intervention period. The secondary outcomes will be the recovery speed, the diameter of the facial nerve, the echo intensity and thickness of facial muscles, blood flow parameters of the facial artery, the serum inflammatory level, safety evaluation, and adverse events. Preliminary exploration of its mechanism of action occurs through inflammation and immune response. The difference between groups will be assessed using repeated measure analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and trend chi-square. Discussion: The trial will evaluate the efficacy and facial nerve edema of acupuncture for Bell's palsy patients in the acute phase and preliminarily explore its possible mechanism. The results thus may provide evidence for clinical application. Clinical trial registration: https://www.chictr.org.cn/bin/project/edit?pid=133211, identifier ChiCTR2100050815.

Preservative effects of Osmanthus fragrans flower flavonoids on fresh-cut Yuluxiang pear.

Osmanthus fragrans flower flavonoids (OFFF) possess superior antioxidant and antibacterial activities. However, scant information exists on the efficacy of these secondary metabolites as preservatives for fresh-cut fruits and vegetables. Here, OFFF were tested as a natural preservative for the first time in fresh-cut Yuluxiang pear (Pyrus bretschneideri Rehd.) to assess effects on fruit quality. OFFF-treated samples showed significant retention of firmness, titratable acid, soluble solid content, and weight. Moreover, OFFF maintained the original fruit color, inhibited the decline of total phenol, reducing power and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging power, and diminished polyphenol oxidase and peroxidase oxidase activities. Furthermore, OFFF treatment effectively inhibited microbial growth. OFFF-treated samples also displayed better sensory quality. Considering cost and effectiveness, the most suitable concentrations of OFFF extract for fresh-cut Yuluxiang pear preservation were 0.7 and 0.9 mg/mL. The results indicate that OFFF treatment may be a potent strategy to inhibit browning and enhance nutritional properties of fresh-cut pear fruit.

Antifungal mechanism of cell-free supernatant produced by Trichoderma virens and its efficacy for the control of pear Valsa canker.

Introduction: Pear Valsa canker, caused by Valsa pyri (V. pyri), poses a major threat to pear production. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of the cell-free supernatant (CFS) produced by Trichoderma virens (T. virens) to control the development of pear Valsa canker and reveal the inhibitory mechanism against the pathogenic fungi. Results: Using morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis, the pathogen G1H was identified as V. pyri, and the biocontrol fungus WJ561 was identified as Trichoderma virens. CFS derived from WJ561 exhibited strong inhibition of mycelial growth and was capable of reducing the pathogenicity of V. pyri on pear leaves and twigs. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed deformations and shrinkages in the fungal hyphae treated with CFS. The CFS also destroyed the hyphal membranes leading to the leakage of cellular contents and an increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Additionally, CFS significantly inhibited the activities of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), and downregulated the expression of antioxidant defense-related genes in V. pyri, causing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Artesunate, identified as the main component in CFS by liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), exhibited antifungal activity against V. pyri. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate the promising potential of T. virens and its CFS in controlling pear Valsa canker. The primary inhibitory mechanism of CFS involves multiple processes, including membrane damage and negatively affecting enzymatic detoxification pathways, consequently leading to hyphal oxidative damage of V. pyri. This study lays a theoretical foundation for the utilization of T. virens to control V. pyri in practical production.

Bibliometric analysis and evaluation of publications on non-Helicobacter pylori helicobacters from 1993 to 2023.

Aim: A bibliometric analysis and evaluation of research on non-Helicobacter pylori Helicobacter species (NHPHs) is essential to determining future research directions. Materials & methods: A comprehensive search was carried out using predetermined search terms within the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) to gather publications spanning from 1993 to 2023. VOSviewer and Citespace were employed for data analysis and visualization. Results: 308 publications on NHPHs were included. Among these, gastric NHPHs received more publications and attention compared with enterohepatic NHPHs. Key findings included the identification of most productive countries, institutions, journals, authors, keywords, research trends and notable perspectives in the field. Conclusion: The article guides further research and clinical applications on NHPHs.

EMPT: a sparsity Transformer for EEG-based motor imagery recognition.

Introduction: Transformer network is widely emphasized and studied relying on its excellent performance. The self-attention mechanism finds a good solution for feature coding among multiple channels of electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, using the self-attention mechanism to construct models on EEG data suffers from the problem of the large amount of data required and the complexity of the algorithm. Methods: We propose a Transformer neural network combined with the addition of Mixture of Experts (MoE) layer and ProbSparse Self-attention mechanism for decoding the time-frequency-spatial domain features from motor imagery (MI) EEG of spinal cord injury patients. The model is named as EEG MoE-Prob-Transformer (EMPT). The common spatial pattern and the modified s-transform method are employed for achieving the time-frequency-spatial features, which are used as feature embeddings to input the improved transformer neural network for feature reconstruction, and then rely on the expert model in the MoE layer for sparsity mapping, and finally output the results through the fully connected layer. Results: EMPT achieves an accuracy of 95.24% on the MI EEG dataset for patients with spinal cord injury. EMPT has also achieved excellent results in comparative experiments with other state-of-the-art methods. Discussion: The MoE layer and ProbSparse Self-attention inside the EMPT are subjected to visualisation experiments. The experiments prove that sparsity can be introduced to the Transformer neural network by introducing MoE and kullback-leibler divergence attention pooling mechanism, thereby enhancing its applicability on EEG datasets. A novel deep learning approach is presented for decoding EEG data based on MI.

Changes in posterior corneal elevation after small incision lenticule extraction for different myopic diopters.

AIM: To study the changes and effect factors of posterior corneal surface after small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) with different myopic diopters. METHODS: Ninety eyes of 90 patients who underwent SMILE were included in this retrospective study. Patients were allocated into three groups based on the preoperative spherical equivalent (SE): low myopia (SE≥-3.00 D), moderate myopia (-3.00 D>SE>-6.00 D) and high myopia (SE≤-6.00 D). Posterior corneal surfaces were measured by a Scheimpflug camera preoperatively and different postoperative times (1wk, 1, 3, 6mo, and 1y). Posterior mean elevation (PME) at 25 predetermined points of 3 concentric circles (2-, 4-, and 6-mm diameter) above the best fit sphere was analyzed. RESULTS: All surgeries were completed uneventfully and no ectasia was found through the observation. The difference of myopia group was significant at the 2-mm ring at 1 and 3mo postoperatively (1mo: P=0.017; 3mo: P=0.018). The effect of time on ΔPME was statistically significant (2-mm ring: P=0.001; 4-mm ring: P<0.001; 6-mm ring: P<0.001). The effect of different corneal locations on ΔPME was significant except 1wk postoperatively (1mo: P=0.000; 3mo: P=0.000; 6mo: P=0.001; 1y: P=0.001). Posterior corneal stability was linearly correlated with SE, central corneal thickness, ablation depth, residual bed thickness, percent ablation depth and percent stromal bed thickness. CONCLUSION: The posterior corneal surface changes dynamically after SMILE. No protrusion is observed on the posterior corneal surface in patients with different degrees of myopia within one year after surgery. SMILE has good stability, accuracy, safety and predictability.

Non-intestinal-type adenocarcinoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses: an analysis of clinical characteristics and prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Non­intestinal adenocarcinoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses (non­ITAC) is a heterogeneous tumour that has rarely been reported in previous studies. We compared and analysed the symptoms, radiographic and pathological features, treatment methods, and prognosis of patients with low-grade (G1) and high-grade (G3) tumours. METHODS: This was a retrospective study included 22 patients with pathologically confirmed non-ITAC of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses who were treated between January 2008 and December 2021 at a single centre. Of these, 11 patients had G1 tumours, and 11 patients had G3 tumours. Clinicopathological features, treatment methods, and survival outcomes were analysed. RESULTS: The median follow-up period was 48.5 months. Nasal congestion was the most common initial symptom, and the nasal cavity was the most frequently involved site. For G1 tumours, the main treatment was simple surgery, 1 and 3­year overall survival (OS) rates were 100 and 88.9%, while the 1 and 3­year local control (LC) rates were 100 and 100%, respectively. For G3 tumours, the main treatments were surgery combined with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy,1 and 3­year OS rates were 72.7 and 72.7%, while the 1 and 3­year LC rates were 100 and 90.91%, respectively. G3 tumours was associated with significantly shorter overall survival than G1 tumours (P = 0.035). Patients with stage III-IV showed shorter overall survival compared to stage I-II patients (P = 0.035). CONCLUSIONS: Non-ITAC of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses may frequently occur in the nasal cavity. The main treatment modality is surgery, supplemented by radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Pathological grade and tumour stage were poor prognostic factors for the disease.

Radiotherapy enhances efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A propensity-matched real-world study.

BACKGROUND: To address the need for immunotherapy in patients with advanced primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), combination with radiotherapy (RT) has emerged as a promising strategy. In preclinical studies, irradiated tumors released tumor antigens to synergistically increase the antitumor effect of immunotherapy. Hence, we investigated whether RT enhances the efficacy of anti-programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) inhibitors in advanced HCC in real-world practice. METHODS: Between August 2018 and June 2021, 172 patients with advanced primary HCC were enrolled in the tertiary center (Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan University); 95 were treated with a combination of RT and the inhibitor of PD-1 (RT-PD1 cohort), and 77 were administered anti-PD-1 therapy (PD1 cohort). The first cycle of PD-1 inhibitors was administered within 60 days or concurrently with RT. Propensity score matching for bias reduction was used to evaluate the clinical outcomes. RESULTS: Among 71 propensity-matched pairs, median progression-free survival was 5.7 months in the RT-PD1 cohort vs. 2.9 months in the PD1 cohort (P <0.001). Median overall survival was 20.9 months in the RT-PD1 cohort vs. 11.2 months in the PD1 cohort (P = 0.018). Compared with patients in the PD1 cohort, patients in the RT-PD1 cohort had significantly higher objective response rates (29/71, 40.8% vs. 14/71, 19.7%, P = 0.006) and disease control rates (44/71, 62.0% vs. 22/71, 31.0%, P <0.001). The incidences of toxic effects were not significantly different between the two cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: RT plus anti-PD-1 therapy is well tolerated. RT enhances the efficacy of anti-PD-1 therapy in patients with advanced primary HCC by improving survival outcomes without increased toxic effects.

Preoperative Differentiation of HER2-Zero and HER2-Low from HER2-Positive Invasive Ductal Breast Cancers Using BI-RADS MRI Features and Machine Learning Modeling.

BACKGROUND: Accurate determination of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is important for choosing optimal HER2 targeting treatment strategies. HER2-low is currently considered HER2-negative, but patients may be eligible to receive new anti-HER2 drug conjugates. PURPOSE: To use breast MRI BI-RADS features for classifying three HER2 levels, first to distinguish HER2-zero from HER2-low/positive (Task-1), and then to distinguish HER2-low from HER2-positive (Task-2). STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. POPULATION: 621 invasive ductal cancer, 245 HER2-zero, 191 HER2-low, and 185 HER2-positive. For Task-1, 488 cases for training and 133 for testing. For Task-2, 294 cases for training and 82 for testing. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3.0 T; 3D T1-weighted DCE, short time inversion recovery T2, and single-shot EPI DWI. ASSESSMENT: Pathological information and BI-RADS features were compared. Random Forest was used to select MRI features, and then four machine learning (ML) algorithms: decision tree (DT), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), and artificial neural nets (ANN), were applied to build models. STATISTICAL TESTS: Chi-square test, one-way analysis of variance, and Kruskal-Wallis test were performed. The P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant. For ML models, the generated probability was used to construct the ROC curves. RESULTS: Peritumoral edema, the presence of multiple lesions and non-mass enhancement (NME) showed significant differences. For distinguishing HER2-zero from non-zero (low + positive), multiple lesions, edema, margin, and tumor size were selected, and the k-NN model achieved the highest AUC of 0.86 in the training set and 0.79 in the testing set. For differentiating HER2-low from HER2-positive, multiple lesions, edema, and margin were selected, and the DT model achieved the highest AUC of 0.79 in the training set and 0.69 in the testing set. DATA CONCLUSION: BI-RADS features read by radiologists from preoperative MRI can be analyzed using more sophisticated feature selection and ML algorithms to build models for the classification of HER2 status and identify HER2-low. TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

Spexin Diminishes Atrial Fibrillation Vulnerability by Acting on Galanin Receptor 2.

BACKGROUND: G protein-coupled receptors play a critical role in atrial fibrillation (AF). Spexin is a novel ligand of galanin receptors (GALRs). In this study, we investigated the regulation of spexin and GALRs on AF and the underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Global spexin knockout (SPX-KO) and cardiomyocyte-specific GALRs knockout (GALR-cKO) mice underwent burst pacing electrical stimulation. Optical mapping was used to determine atrial conduction velocity and action potential duration. Atrial myocyte action potential duration and inward rectifying K+ current (IK1) were recorded using whole-cell patch clamps. Isolated cardiomyocytes were stained with Fluo-3/AM dye, and intracellular Ca2+ handling was examined by CCD camera. A mouse model of AF was established by Ang-II (angiotensin II) infusion. RESULTS: Spexin plasma levels in patients with AF were lower than those in subjects without AF, and knockout of spexin increased AF susceptibility in mice. In the atrium of SPX-KO mice, potassium inwardly rectifying channel subfamily J member 2 (KCNJ2) and sarcolipin (SLN) were upregulated; meanwhile, IK1 current was increased and Ca2+ handling was impaired in isolated atrial myocytes of SPX-KO mice. GALR2-cKO mice, but not GALR1-cKO and GALR3-cKO mice, had a higher incidence of AF, which was associated with higher IK1 current and intracellular Ca2+ overload. The phosphorylation level of CREB (cyclic AMP responsive element binding protein 1) was upregulated in atrial tissues of SPX-KO and GALR2-cKO mice. Chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed the recruitment of p-CREB to the proximal promoter regions of KCNJ2 and SLN. Finally, spexin treatment suppressed CREB signaling, decreased IK1 current and intracellular Ca2+ overload, which thus reduced the inducibility of AF in Ang-II-infused mice. CONCLUSIONS: Spexin reduces atrial fibrillation susceptibility by inhibiting CREB phosphorylation and thus downregulating KCNJ2 and SLN transcription by GALR2 receptor. The spexin/GALR2/CREB signaling pathway represents a novel therapeutic avenue in the development of agents against atrial fibrillation.

Impacts of oxbow lake evolution on sediment microbial community structure in the Yellow River source region.

Oxbow lake formation and evolution have significant impacts on the fragile Yellow River Basin ecosystem. However, the effects of different oxbow lake evolutionary stages on sediment microbial community structure are not yet understood comprehensively. Therefore, microbial community structure in three stages of oxbow lake succession, namely, lotic lake (early stage), semi-lotic lake (middle stage), and lentic lake (late stage), was investigated in the present study in the Yellow River Basin on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Amplicon sequencing was employed to reveal differences in microbial community diversity and composition. The bacterial and fungal communities in sediment were significantly different among the three succession stages and were driven by different environmental factors. In particular, bacterial community structure was influenced primarily by nitrate-nitrogen (N), microbial biomass phosphorus, and total carbon (C) and organic C in the early, middle, and late stages, respectively. Conversely, fungal community structure was influenced primarily by ammonium-N in the early stage and by moisture content in the middle and late stages. However, the predicted functions of the microbial communities did not exhibit significant differences across the three succession stages. Both bacteria and fungi were influenced significantly by stochastic factors. Homogeneous selection had a high relative contribution to bacteria community assembly in the middle stage, whereas the relative contributions of heterogeneous selection processes to fungal community assembly increased through the three stages. As succession time increased, the total number of keystone species increased gradually, and the late succession stage had high network complexity and the highest network stability. The findings could facilitate further elucidation of the evolution mechanisms of oxbow lake source area, high-altitude river evolution dynamics, in addition to aiding a deeper understanding of the long-term ecological evolution patterns of source river ecosystems.

Association of accelerated aging with the incidence risk of Cardiometabolic diseases in people with severe mental illnesses: A prospective analysis in UK Biobank.

Cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) comorbidities among people with severe mental illnesses (SMI) are associated with a high healthcare burden and premature mortality. This study aims to evaluate whether biological aging has an interaction with SMI on incident CMDs, and to examine the association of four biological aging indicators with CMDs incidence in this population. Data were sourced from the UK Biobank, a large prospective cohort study. Four indicators were used to assess biological aging including frailty phenotype, frailty index, KDM-biological age acceleration and phenotypic age acceleration. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the associations. We observed higher prevalence of frailty and accelerated biological age with SMI than those without SMI. Further analysis found significant interaction effect of pre-frailty and SMI (PPre-frail*SMI=0.005) as well as biological age acceleration and SMI (PQ3 (>P75)*SMI=0.038). 14.7 % of the participants with SMI developed CMDs during the follow-up. Compared with non-frail participants, those with frailty (frailty phenotype: HR=1.68, 95 % CI: 1.50, 1.88, P < 0.001; frailty index: HR=2.44, 95 % CI: 2.11-2.81, P < 0.001) and biological age acceleration (KDM-biological age acceleration (Q3): HR=1.91, 95 % CI: 1.74, 2.11, P < 0.001; phenotypic age acceleration (Q3): HR=2.07, 95 % CI: 1.86, 2.30, P < 0.001) had a significantly higher risk of CMDs in the adjusted model. A series of sensitivity analyses were conducted to illustrate the robustness of the findings. These findings highlight the important implications for concerning about the high incidence of CMDs comorbidities and intervention of aging in people with SMI.