The role and mechanism of various trace elements in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is a slow and complex disease that involves various factors, including lipid metabolism disorders, oxygen-free radical production, inflammatory cell infiltration, platelet adhesion and aggregation, and local thrombosis. Trace elements play a crucial role in human health. Many trace elements, especially metallic ones, not only maintain the normal functions of organs but also participate in basic metabolic processes. The latest studies have revealed a close correlation between trace elements and the occurrence and progression of atherosclerosis. The imbalance of these trace elements can induce atherosclerosis or accelerate its progression through various mechanisms, which poses a significant threat to human health. Therefore, exploring the specific mechanism of trace elements on atherosclerosis is highly significant. In this review, we summarized the roles and mechanisms of iron, copper, zinc, magnesium, and selenium homeostasis and imbalance in atherosclerosis development, in order to identify novel targets and therapeutic strategies for treating atherosclerosis.

Characterizing the rhythmic oscillations of gut bacterial and fungal communities and their rhythmic interactions in male cynomolgus monkeys.

The circadian oscillation of gut microbiota plays vital roles in the normal physiology and health of the host. Although the diurnal oscillation of intestinal bacteria has been extensively studied, little relevant work has been done on intestinal fungi. Besides, the rhythmic correlations between bacterial and fungal microbes are also scarcely reported. Here, we investigated the diurnal oscillations of bacterial and fungal communities in male cynomolgus monkeys by performing 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing. As for bacterial genera, we found that the relative abundance of Prevotella, norank_f_Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group, and Peptococcus underwent significant changes at ZT12 (19:00) and exhibited obvious rhythmic oscillations. Consequently, most of the bacterial functions varied at ZT12 and were positively correlated with the bacterial genera norank_f_Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group and Prevotella. Among the fungal genera, the relative abundance of Aspergillus and Talaromyces decreased at ZT18 (1:00) and showed slight rhythmic oscillations. As for the fungal function, the undefined saprotroph showed slight rhythmic oscillation and was positively correlated with the fungal genus Aspergillus. Notably, we characterized the correlations between intestinal bacteria and fungi every 6 h over the course of a day and found that the bacterial and fungal microbes interacted closely, with the most bacteria-fungi interactions occurring at ZT12. Our study contributed to a more comprehensive understanding of the diurnal oscillation patterns of bacterial and fungal microbes in male cynomolgus monkeys and uncovered their correlations during a diurnal cycle. IMPORTANCE: The rhythmic oscillation of gut microbiota can impact the physiology activity and disease susceptibility of the host. Until now, most of the studies are focused on bacterial microbes, ignoring other components of gut microbes, such as fungal microbes (mycobiota). Besides, only few studies have addressed the rhythmic correlations between gut bacteria and fungi. Here, we analyzed the rhythmic oscillations of bacterial and fungal communities in male cynomolgus monkeys by performing 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing. Apart from identifying the rhythmically oscillated bacterial and fungal microbes, we conducted the correlation analysis between these two microbial communities and found that the intestinal bacteria and fungi exhibited close interactions rhythmically, with the most interactions occurring at ZT12. Thus, our study not only investigated the rhythmic oscillations of gut bacterial and fungal communities in male cynomolgus monkeys but also uncovered their rhythmic interactions.

A Profile of Drug-Resistant Mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Guangdong Province, China.

Guangdong Province, China's largest economy, has a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB). At present, there are few reports on the distribution, transmission and drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains in this region. In this study, we performed minimum inhibitory concentration testing for 14 anti-TB drugs and whole-genome sequencing of 713 clinical Mtb isolates from 20,662 sputum culture-positive tuberculosis patients registered at 31 tuberculosis drug resistance surveillance sites covering 20 cities in Guangdong Province from 2016 to 2018. Moreover, we evaluated genome-wide associations between mutations and drug resistance, and further investigated the differences in the MICs of mutations. The epidemiology, drug-resistant phenotypes and whole genome sequencing data of 713 clinical Mtb isolates were analyzed, revealing the lineage distribution and drug-resistant gene profiles in Guangdong Province. WGS combined with quantitative MIC measurements identified several novel loci associated with resistance, of which 16 loci were found to be related to resistance to more than one drug. This study analyzed the lineage distribution, prevalence characteristics and resistance-corresponding gene profiles of Mtb isolates in Guangdong province, and provided a theoretical basis for the formulation of tuberculosis prevention and control policy in the province. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12088-024-01236-3.

Polygonum hydropiper Compound Extract Inhibits Clostridium perfringens-Induced Intestinal Inflammatory Response and Injury in Broiler Chickens by Modulating NLRP3 Inflammasome Signaling.

Necrotic enteritis (NE) is a critical disease affecting broiler health, with Clostridium perfringens as its primary pathogen. Polygonum hydropiper compound extract (PHCE), formulated based on traditional Chinese veterinary principles, contains primarily flavonoids with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. However, PHCE's efficacy against Clostridium perfringens-induced NE and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. This study employed network pharmacology and molecular docking to predict PHCE's potential mechanisms in treating NE, followed by determining its minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) against Clostridium perfringens (C. perf). Subsequently, the effects of various PHCE doses on intestinal damage, antioxidant capacity, and inflammatory factors in C. perf-infected broilers were assessed. Network pharmacology and molecular docking suggested that PHCE's therapeutic mechanism for NE involves the NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome signaling pathway, with flavonoids such as quercetin, kaempferol, and isorhamnetin as key active components. PHCE exhibited an MIC of 3.13 mg/mL and an MBC of 12.5 mg/mL against C. perf. High PHCE doses effectively reduced intestinal damage scores in both the jejunum and ileum, accompanied by attenuated intestinal pathological changes. Additionally, the high dose significantly increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels while decreasing malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1ß), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the jejunum and ileum (p < 0.01 or p < 0.05). PHCE also modulated the expression of caspase-1, IL-1ß, gasdermin D (GSDMD), and NLRP3 mRNA, key components of the NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway, in both intestinal segments. These findings collectively indicate that PHCE protects against C. perf-induced oxidative stress and inflammatory damage in NE. By enhancing antioxidant capacity, PHCE likely reduces oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, subsequently modulating NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway key factor expression. Overall, this research provides valuable insights into the protective mechanism of the herbal compound PHCE and its potential benefits for avian health.

Prediction of IGBT Gate Oxide Layer's Performance Degradation Based on MultiScaleFormer Network.

Insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) are widely used in power electronic devices, and their health prediction problems have attracted much attention in the field of power electronic equipment health management. The performance degradation of IGBT gate oxide is one of the most important failure modes. In order to analyze this failure mechanism and the ease of implementation of a monitoring circuit, the gate leakage current of IGBTs was selected as the fault precursor parameter for the degradation of their gate oxide performance, and feature selection and fusion were carried out by using time domain characteristic analysis, grayscale correlation, Mahalanobis distance, Kalman filter, and other methods. Thus, a health indicator was obtained to characterize the degradation of IGBT performance, which was used to indicate the degree of aging of the IGBT gate oxide layer. In this paper, we propose an improved degradation prediction model called MultiScaleFormer, inspired by advanced design ideas of the iTransformer network architecture, combined with the health parameters of IGBTs to construct a degradation prediction model for the IGBT gate oxide layer. MultiScaleFormer showed the highest fitting accuracy compared with the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Support Vector Regression (SVR), Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), CNN-LSTM, and Transformer models in our experiment. The mean absolute error (MAE) of the MultiScaleFormer prediction was as low as 0.0087. Extraction of the health indicator and the construction and verification of the degradation prediction model were carried out on the dataset released by the NASA-Ames Laboratory. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the gate leakage current as a fault precursor parameter for IGBT gate oxide failure, and the feasibility and accuracy of the MultiScaleFormer prediction model for IGBT performance degradation.

The effectiveness of case management and nursing counselling among caregivers of patients with dementia: A pilot study.

According to the data released by the Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2021, in 2019, 235,000 patients sought medical treatment for dementia-related diseases at the National-Health-Insurance-participating hospitals and clinics for more than three outpatient visits or had been hospitalised, and the number had increased by 15,000 from the previous year (Ministry of Health and Welfare, 2021). This implies that families are affected, causing tremendous physical, psychological, and economic pressures and burdens on the caregivers and families of the patient. The estimated social cost of caring for dementia families increased from $1.3 trillion in 2019 to $2.8 trillion in 2030 (World Health Organisation, 2021). Thus, long-term care for the dementia population has become a critical issue in medical care and social services in Taiwan and worldwide. In 2017, Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare has been starting Dementia care policy with 10 years long-term care plan through set up dementia care centre. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of dementia care centre for reducing the burden and improving the quality of life for caregivers of dementia patients. This pilot study adopts a quasi-experimental research design and uses purposive sampling to select in house informal caregivers of dementia patients who are part of a dementia collaborative care programme at a medical centre in the northern region and were willing to participate in this study. Upon enrolment in the study, subjects were given a pre-test, followed by a one-hour face-to-face nursing consultation and assessment after 2 weeks. Subsequently, a telephone nursing consultation was conducted once a month for 3 months. Two weeks after completing all counselling sessions, a post-test was administered to measure the caregiver burden with The Chinese version of the Caregiver Burden Inventory and the quality of life for caregivers with The 'Chinese Health Questionnaire CHQ-12'. After providing case management and nursing counselling, the total caregiver burden score significantly decreased from an average of 40.1 (SD = 21.6) at the pre-test to an average of 38.6 (SD = 21.4) at the post-test, reaching statistical significance (p < 0.01). The results of this study showed that providing dementia caregivers with case management and nursing consultation services helps improve the overall caregiver burden (particularly emotional burden and physical burden) as well as the health questionnaire scores. However, the social burden and time burden did not improve after receiving case management and counselling among caregivers; instead, post-test scores of these aspects were significantly higher.

2D/2D Bi2Se3/SnSe2 heterostructure with rapid NO2 gas detection.

Heterostructure engineering is crucial for enhancing gas sensing performance. However, achieving rapid response for room-temperature NO2 sensing through rational heterostructure design remains a challenge. In this study, a Bi2Se3/SnSe2 2D/2D heterostructure was synthesized by hydrothermal method for the rapid detection of NO2 at room temperature. By combining Bi2Se3 nanosheets with SnSe2 nanosheets, the Bi2Se3/SnSe2 sensor demonstrated and the lowest detection limit for NO2 a short response time (15 s) to 10 ppm NO2 at room temperature, reaches 25 ppb. Furthermore the sensor demonstrates significantly larger response to NO2 than to other interfering gases, including 10 ppm NO2, H2S, NH3, CH4, CO, and SO2,demonstrating its outstanding selectivity. And we discuss the mechanism of related performance enhancement.

Electroacupuncture Improves Cardiac Function via Inhibiting Sympathetic Remodeling Mediated by Promoting Macrophage M2 Polarization in Myocardial Infarction Mice.

Electroacupuncture (EA) at the Neiguan acupoint (PC6) has shown significant cardioprotective effects. Sympathetic nerves play an important role in maintaining cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI). Previous studies have found that EA treatment may improve cardiac function by modulating sympathetic remodeling after MI. However, the mechanism in how EA affects sympathetic remodeling and improves cardiac function remains unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the cardioprotective mechanism of EA after myocardial ischemic injury by improving sympathetic remodeling and promoting macrophage M2 polarization. We established a mouse model of MI by occluding coronary arteries in male C57/BL6 mice. EA treatment was performed at the PC6 with current intensity (1 mA) and frequency (2/15 Hz). Cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiography. Heart rate variability in mice was assessed via standard electrocardiography. Myocardial fibrosis was evaluated by Sirius red staining. Levels of inflammatory factors were assessed using RT-qPCR. Sympathetic nerve remodeling was assessed through ELISA, western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and immunofluorescence staining. Macrophage polarization was evaluated using flow cytometry. Our results indicated that cardiac systolic function improved significantly after EA treatment, with an increase in fractional shortening and ejection fraction. Myocardial fibrosis was significantly mitigated in the EA group. The sympathetic nerve marker tyrosine hydroxylase and the nerve sprouting marker growth-associated Protein 43 were significantly reduced in the EA group, indicating that sympathetic remodeling was significantly reduced. EA treatment also promoted macrophage M2 polarization, reduced levels of inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6, and decreased macrophage-associated nerve growth factor in myocardial tissue. To sum up, our results suggest that EA at PC6 attenuates sympathetic remodeling after MI to promote macrophage M2 polarization and improve cardiac function.

Enhancing ovarian cancer treatment with maleimide-modified Pt(IV) prodrug nanoparticles.

The limitations of platinum in ovarian cancer therapy, such as poor solubility and significant side effects, often lead to suboptimal therapeutic outcome and mortality. In this study, we have developed a novel approach utilizing biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles as a drug delivery system (NDDS), loaded with advanced platinum (IV) (Pt(IV)) prodrugs. A key feature of our approach is the enhancement of nanoparticles with maleimide, a modification hypothesized to significantly boost tumor tissue accumulation. When tested in mouse models of orthotopic and peritoneal metastasis ovarian cancer, these maleimide-modified nanoparticles are anticipated to show preferential accumulation in tumor tissues, enhancing therapeutic efficiency and minimizing systemic drug exposure. Our findings demonstrate that the maleimide-modified Pt(IV)-loaded NDDSs significantly reduce tumor burden in comparison to traditional cisplatin therapy, while simultaneously reducing adverse side effects. This leads to markedly improved survival rates in models of peritoneal metastasis ovarian cancer, offering a promising new direction in the treatment of this challenging disease.

Tris stabilized AuNPs based lateral flow immunochromatography for the simultaneous detection of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus and rotavirus on-site.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) and rotavirus has posed a significant threat to the pig industry annually across different nations, resulting in huge economic losses. The frequent co-infection of these two viruses in clinical settings complicates the process of differential diagnoses. Rapid and accurate detection of PEDV and rotavirus is in great demand for timely diarrhea disease prevention and control. In this study, tris stabilized AuNPs were prepared and a sensitive lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) sensor was developed for the simultaneous and rapid detection of PEDV and rotavirus on site. After the system optimization, the established LFIA can simultaneously identify PEDV and rotavirus with limits of detection (LOD) of 1.25 × 103 TCID50 mL-1 and 3.13 × 102 pg mL-1, respectively. When applying for clinical samples, the LFIA show a concordance of 95 % and 100 % to reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for PEDV and rotavirus respectively. Therefore, this LFIA can qualitatively detect PEDV and rotavirus in 18 min with high sensitivity and accuracy without any sophisticated equipment and operation, making it a promising candidate for the early diagnosis of PEDV or/and rotavirus diarrhea on site.