Mapping environmental suitability changes for arbovirus mosquitoes in Southeast Asia: 1960-2020.

Spatial epidemiology recognizes the impact of environmental factors on human infectious diseases through disease vectors. The expansion of Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus raises concerns about health risks due to their changing distribution. However, current mosquito mapping methods have low spatial resolution and limited focus on long-term trends and factors. This study develops a high-resolution framework (500 m) to map mosquito distribution in Southeast Asia from 1960 to 2020. It includes a species distribution model, a spatial autocorrelation model, and a geographical detector model. The study produces Southeast Asia's first 500 m resolution map of mosquito suitability, revealing significant increases in mosquito suitability in most cities over the past 60 years. The analysis indicates a shift in high-suitability areas from coastal to inland regions, with nighttime land surface temperature playing a key role. These findings are crucial for regional risk assessments and mitigation strategies related to vector-borne diseases.

Effects of pore characteristics on CO2 adsorption performance of coal slime with different metamorphic degrees.

With the rapid development of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) technology, it is necessary to explore the feasibility of coal slime as a porous carbon material for CO2 capture. In this paper, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to observe the morphological characteristics of coal slime samples with different metamorphic degrees, and the pore structure of coal slime was explored by low temperature N2 adsorption and low-pressure CO2 adsorption experiments. The pore distribution characteristics were analyzed, and the adsorption law of different metamorphic degrees were summarized through CO2 isothermal adsorption experiments. The results showed that: The specific surface area (SSA) and pore volume (PV) of the mesopores of the coal slime exhibited a U-shaped distribution with coal rank, and are much smaller than that of its micropores. Micropores less than 2 nm are the main adsorption space of coal slime, its PV accounted for 59%, 60%, 71%, and SSA accounted for 92%, 93%, 95%, obviously, which are dominant at all stages. The linear correlation fitting coefficients R2 between the limiting adsorbed amount a of CO2 and the micropores PV and the SSA were up to 0.830 and 0.887, respectively. The coal slime has good adsorption performance for CO2. Based on the Langmuir model to fit the limit adsorption amount, a-value can reach 41.774 cm3 g-1, 32.072 cm3 g-1, 38.457 cm3 g-1 at 303 K with the increase of Rmax. Studying the impact of coal slime on CO2 adsorption performance provides a theoretical basis for the subsequent preparation of energy storage materials and is of great significance for the safe, efficient and economic capture and sequestration of CO2, to alleviate the serious situation of the environment and realizing the dual-carbon goal.

Bacterial surface display of PETase mutants and MHETase for an efficient dual-enzyme cascade catalysis.

Biological degradation of PET plastic holds great potential for plastic recycling. However, the high costs associated with preparing free enzymes for degrading PET make it unfeasible for industrial applications. Hence, we developed various cell catalysts by surface-displaying PETase mutants and MHETase using autotransporters in E. coli and P. putida. The efficiency of surface display was enhanced through modifying the host, co-expressing molecular chaperones, and evoluting the autotransporter. In strain EC9F, PET degradation rate was boosted to 3.85 mM/d, 51-fold and 23-fold increase compared to free enzyme and initial strain ED1, respectively. The reusability of cell catalyst EC9F was demonstrated with over 38 % and 30 % of its initial activity retained after 22 cycles of BHET degradation and 3 cycles of PET degradation. The highest reported PET degradation rate of 4.95 mM/d was achieved by the dual-enzyme cascade catalytic system EC9F+EM2+R, a mixture of cell catalyst EC9F and EM2 with surfactant rhamnolipid.

The combination of RNA-seq transcriptomics and data-independent acquisition proteomics reveal the mechanisms and function of different gooses testicular development at different stages of laying cycle.

Egg production performance is an important economic trait in the poultry industry. In previous studies, attention has often been paid to the growth and development of the ovaries, while there has been less research on the testicular tissue of male goose. Due to various factors, there are usually significant differences in the process of testicular spermatogenesis among different goose breeds. The Jilin white goose (JL) is a high-production local goose species in China, domesticated from Anser cygnoides, which has a high egg-laying performance and the egg-laying period can last from February to July. In the production of goose within Jilin Province, the female goose of Jilin White goose is considered as an important maternal parent of synthetic lines, and ganders from Hungarian white goose (HU), Wanxi white goose (WX) and Jilin white goose are the main male parents. Each year, all 3 gander species begin to exhibit breeding capacity in February and reach the peak of reproductive capacity by April, marked by high fertilization rates. With the gradual increase in temperature, the testicular tissue of Hungarian and Wanxi goose gradually diminishes in its ability to produce sperm. the testicular tissue undergoes significant shrinkage by the end of June, resulting in a near loss of sperm production capability, thereby yielding low fertilization rates. However, the Jilin White goose demonstrates the ability to maintain a stable sperm production capacity. Individuals with low sperm motility contribute to increased seed production costs and pose constraints on the industrial development of livestock and poultry varieties. In this study, transcriptomics and proteomics data from gooses testicular of 3 different goose breeds inclouding Jilin white goose, Wanxi white gooseand Hungary white goose sampled in 2 stages, peak of laying cycle (PLC) and end of laying cycle (ELC). In a comparative analysis between PLC and ELC groups (ELC vs. PLC) of 3 breeds, we identified 401,340,6651 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 18,225,323 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), respectively. Differentially expressed genes and proteins were significantly enriched in Gene Ontology (GO) terms such as phosphotransferase activity, cytoskeletal protein binding, microtubule motor activity, channel activity and carbohydrate metabolic process. The KEGG enrichment analysis of the DEGs in testicular showed that most differentially expressed mRNAs participate in the KEGG pathways, including ECM-receptor interaction, MAPK signaling pathway, carbon metabolism, Cell cycle, VEGF signaling pathway, Lipoic acid metabolism and p53 signaling pathway. The differential expression of 4 selected DEGs (SPAG6, NEK2, HSPA4L, SERF1A) was verified by qRT-PCR, and the results were consistent with RNA-seq data. In conclusion, this study reveals the differences in gene expression regulation in testicular tissues of different goose species, and screening candidate genes and proteins related to spermatogenesis.

Novel insights into the mechanisms of seasonal cyclicity of testicles by proteomics and transcriptomics analyses in goose breeder lines.

Spermatogenesis is a crucial indicator of geese reproduction performance and production. The testis is the main organ responsible for sperm production, and the egg-laying cycle in geese is a complex physiological process that demands precise orchestration of hormonal cues and cellular events within the testes, however, the seasonal changes in the transcriptomic and proteomic profiles of goose testicles remain unclear. To explore various aspects of the mechanisms of the seasonal cyclicity of testicles in different goose breeds, in this study, we used an integrative transcriptomic and proteomic approach to screen the key genes and proteins in the testes of 2 goose males, the Hungarian white goose and the Wanxi white goose, at 3 different periods of the laying cycle: beginning of laying cycle (BLC), peak of laying cycle (PLC), and end of laying cycle (ELC). The results showed that a total of 9,273 differentially expressed genes and 4,543 differentially expressed proteins were identified in the geese testicles among the comparison groups. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis suggested that the DEGs, in the comparison groups, were mainly enrichment in metabolic pathways, neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, cyctokine-cyctokine receptor interaction, calcium signaling pathway, apelin signaling pathway, ether lipid metabolism, cysteine, and methionine metabolism. While the DEPs, in the 3 comparison groups, were mainly involved in the ribosome, metabolic pathways, carbon metabolism, proteasome, endocytosis, lysosome, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, oxidative phosphorylation, nucleocytoplasmic transport, and tight junction. The protein-protein interaction network analysis (PPI) indicated that selected DEPs, such as CHD1L, RAB18, FANCM, TAF5, TSC1/2, PHLDB2, DNAJA2, NCOA5, DEPTOR, TJP1, and RAPGEF2, were highly associated with male reproductive regulation. Further, the expression trends of 4 identified DEGs were validated by qRT-PCR. In conclusion, this work offers a new perspective on comprehending the molecular mechanisms and pathways involved in the seasonal cyclicity of testicles in the Hungarian white goose and the Wanxi white goose, as well as contributing to improving goose reproductive performance.

The hemodynamic and geometric characteristics of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque formation.

Background: Ischemic stroke, which has a high incidence, disability, and mortality rate, is mainly caused by carotid atherosclerotic plaque. The difference in the geometric structures of the carotid arteries inevitably leads to the variability in the local hemodynamics, which plays a key role in the formation of carotid atherosclerosis. At present, the combined mechanisms of hemodynamic and geometric in the formation of carotid atherosclerotic plaque are not clear. Thus, this study characterized the geometric and hemodynamic characteristics of carotid atherosclerotic plaque formation using four-dimensional (4D) flow magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: Ultimately, 122 carotid arteries from 61 patients were examined in this study. According to the presence of plaques at the bifurcation of the carotid artery on cervical vascular ultrasound (US), carotid arteries were placed into a plaque group (N=69) and nonplaque group (N=53). The ratio of the maximum internal carotid artery (ICA) inner diameter to the maximum common carotid artery (CCA) inner diameter (ICA-CCA diameter ratio), bifurcation angle, and tortuosity were measured using neck three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (3D TOF-MRA). Meanwhile, 4D flow MRI was used to obtain the following hemodynamic parameters of the carotid arteries: volume flow rate, velocity, wall shear stress (WSS), and pressure gradient (PG). Independent sample t-tests were used to compare carotid artery geometry and hemodynamic changes between the plaque group and nonplaque group. Results: The ICA-CCA diameter ratio between the plaque group and the nonplaque group was not significantly different (P=0.124), while there were significant differences in the bifurcation angle (P=0.005) and tortuosity (P=0.032). The bifurcation angle of the plaque group was greater than that of the nonplaque group (60.70°±20.75° vs. 49.32°±22.90°), and the tortuosity was smaller than that of the nonplaque group (1.07±0.04 vs. 1.09±0.05). There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of volume flow rate (P=0.351) and the maximum value of velocity (velocitymax) (P=0.388), but the axial, circumferential, and 3D WSS values were all significantly different, including their mean values (all P values <0.001) and the maximum value of 3D WSS (P<0.001), with the mean axial, circumferential, 3D WSS values, along with the maximum 3D WSS value, being lower in the plaque group. The two groups also differed significantly in terms of maximum PG value (P=0.030) and mean PG value (P=0.026), with these values being greater in the nonplaque group than in the plaque group. Conclusions: A large bifurcation angle and a low tortuosity of the carotid artery are geometric risk factors for plaque formation in this area. Low WSS and low PG values are associated with carotid atherosclerotic plaque formation.

Flow-electricity coupling fields enhance microfluidic platforms for efficient exosome isolation.

Recently, exosomes have emerged as important biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, playing a significant role in disease diagnosis. Consequently, efficient isolation of exosomes from complex body fluids is now a critical focus in clinical research. We have designed and fabricated an exosome separation chip, leveraging the synergies of flow and electric fields through 3D printing technology. This approach harnesses the combined strengths of both fields, substantially enhancing separation efficiency and purity. This also effectively reduced the voltage required to form an electric field (from 120 V down to 10 V), minimizing the risk of Joule heating, thereby preserving the structural integrity and biological activity of the exosomes. Compared with the standard exosome separation method of ultracentrifugation (UC), our chip offers numerous benefits: it is cost-effective (under 50 RMB), boasts a high recovery rate (64.8%) and high purity (almost 100%), achieves remarkable separation efficiency (within 30 minutes), and is straightforward to operate. Moreover, since an unmarked separation method is used, the separated exosomes can be directly used for downstream detection and analysis, which has certain practicality for future clinical research and application.

Quantitative comparison of bile acid glucuronides sub-metabolome between intrahepatic cholestasis and healthy pregnant women.

Because of the pathological indication and the physiological functions, bile acids (BAs) have occupied the research hotspot in recent decades. Although extensive efforts have been paid onto BAs sub-metabolome characterization, as the subfamily, BA glucuronides (gluA-BAs) profile is seldom concerned. Here, we made efforts to develop a LC-MS/MS program enabling quantitative gluA-BAs sub-metabolome characterization and to explore the differential species in serum between intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) patients and healthy subjects. To gain as many authentic gluA-BAs as possible, liver microsomes from humans, rats, and mice were deployed to conjugate glucuronyl group to authentic BAs through in vitro incubation. Eighty gluA-BAs were captured and subsequently served as authentic compounds to correlate MS/MS spectral behaviors to structural features using squared energy-resolved MS program. Optimal collision energy (OCE) of [M-H]->[M-H-176.1]- was jointly administrated by [M-H]- mass and glucuronidation site, and identical exciting energies corresponding to 50% survival rate of 1st-generation fragment ion (EE50) were observed merely when the aglycone of a gluA-BA was consistent with the suspected structure. Through integrating high-resolution m/z, OCE, and EE50 information to identify gluA-BAs in a BAs pool, 97 ones were found and identified, and further, quantitative program was built for all annotated gluA-BAs by assigning OCEs to [M-H]->[M-H-176.1]- ion transitions. Quantitative gluA-BAs sub-metabolome of ICP was different from that of the healthy group. More GCDCA-3-G, GDCA-3-G, TCDCA-7-G, TDCA-3-G, and T-ß-MCA-3-G were distributed in the ICP group. Above all, this study not only offered a promising analytical tool for in-depth gluA-BAs sub-metabolome characterization, but also clarified gluA-BAs allowing the differentiation of ICP and healthy subjects.

Robust Quantum Gates against Correlated Noise in Integrated Quantum Chips.

As quantum circuits become more integrated and complex, additional error sources that were previously insignificant start to emerge. Consequently, the fidelity of quantum gates benchmarked under pristine conditions falls short of predicting their performance in realistic circuits. To overcome this problem, we must improve their robustness against pertinent error models besides isolated fidelity. Here, we report the experimental realization of robust quantum gates in superconducting quantum circuits based on a geometric framework for diagnosing and correcting various gate errors. Using quantum process tomography and randomized benchmarking, we demonstrate robust single-qubit gates against quasistatic noise and spatially correlated noise in a broad range of strengths, which are common sources of coherent errors in large-scale quantum circuits. We also apply our method to nonstatic noises and to realize robust two-qubit gates. Our Letter provides a versatile toolbox for achieving noise-resilient complex quantum circuits.

Hierarchical Carbon Nanocages as Superior Supports for Photothermal CO2 Catalysis.

The exploitation of hierarchical carbon nanocages with superior light-to-heat conversion efficiency, together with their distinct structural, morphological, and electronic properties, in photothermal applications could provide effective solutions to long-standing challenges in diverse areas. Here, we demonstrate the discovery of pristine and nitrogen-doped hierarchical carbon nanocages as superior supports for highly loaded, small-sized Ru particles toward enhanced photothermal CO2 catalysis. A record CO production rate of 3.1 mol·gRu-1·h-1 with above 90% selectivity in flow reactors was reached for hierarchical nitrogen-doped carbon-nanocage-supported Ru clusters under 2.4 W·cm-2 illumination without external heating. Detailed studies reveal that the enhanced performance originates from the strong broadband sunlight absorption and efficient light-to-heat conversion of nanocage supports as well as the excellent intrinsic catalytic reactivity of sub-2 nm Ru particles. Our study reveals the great potential of hierarchical carbon nanocages in photothermal catalysis to reduce the fossil fuel consumption of various industrial chemical processes and stimulates interest in their exploitation for other demanding photothermal applications.

A prediction model based on high serum SH2B1 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Identifying a specific biomarker will facilitate the diagnosis and prediction of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to investigate the serum SH2B1 in patients with NSCLC and healthy volunteers and establish a novel prediction model. METHODS: A total 103 NSCLC patients and 108 healthy volunteers were selected from December 2019 to December 2020. Their serum and important clinical data were collected. Serum SH2B1 concentration was determined by ELISA. A novel prediction model for NSCLC was established according to these significant factors. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the chronic pulmonary diseases; NLR ≥ 2.07; hemoglobin level ≥ 136.56 g/L; albumin level ≥ 42.59 g/L and serum SH2B1 concentration ≥615.28 pg/mL were considered as statistically significant difference (p < 0.05). A comprehensive nomogram was established based on serum SH2B1 concentration combined with significant clinical indicators to predict an individual's probability of NSCLC. CONCLUSION: The serum SH2B1 concentration ≥ 615.28 pg/mL is a significant predictive factor for NSCLC. Significantly, the prediction model based on serum SH2B1 has good stability and accuracy, which provides new insights of prediction assessment for NSCLC.

Chromosome-level genome sequencing and multi-omics of the Hungarian White Goose (Anser anser domesticus) reveals novel miRNA-mRNA regulation mechanism of waterfowl feather follicle development.

The Hungarian White Goose (Anser anser domesticus) is an excellent European goose breed, with high feather and meat production. Despite its importance in the poultry industry, no available genome assembly information has been published. This study aimed to present Chromosome-level and functional genome sequencing of the Hungarian White Goose. The results showed that the genome assembly has a total length of 1115.82 Mb, 39 pairs of chromosomes, 92.98% of the BUSCO index, and contig N50 and scaffold N50 were up to 2.32 Mb and 60.69 Mb, respectively. Annotation of the genome assembly revealed 19550 genes, 286 miRNAs, etc. We identified 235 expanded and 1,167 contracted gene families in this breed compared with the other 16 species. We performed a positive selection analysis between this breed and four species of Anatidae to uncover the genetic information underlying feather follicle development. Further, we detected the function of miR-199-x, miR-143-y, and miR-23-z on goose embryonic skin fibroblast. In summary, we have successfully generated a highly complete genome sequence of the Hungarian white goose, which will provide a great resource to improve our understanding of gene functions and enhance the studies on feather follicle development at the genomic level.

Directional Growth and Density Modulation of Single-Atom Platinum for Efficient Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

Dispersion of single atoms (SAs) in the host is important for optimizing catalytic activity. Herein, we propose a novel strategy to tune oxygen vacancies in CeO2-X directionally anchoring the single atom platinum (PtSA), which is uniformly dispersed on the rGO. The catalyst's performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) can be enhanced by controlling different densities of CeO2-X in rGO. The PtSA performs best optimally densified and loaded on homogeneous and moderately densified CeO2-X/rGO (PtSA-M-CeO2-X/rGO). It exhibited higher activity in HER with an overpotential of 25 mV at 0.5 M H2SO4 and 33 mV at 1 KOH than that of almost reported electrocatalysts. Furthermore, it exhibited stability for 90 hours at -100 mA cm-2 in 1 KOH and -150 mA cm-2 in 0.5 M H2SO4 conditions, respectively. Through comprehensive experiments and theoretical calculations, the suitable dispersion density of PtSA on the defects of CeO2-X with more active sites gives the potential for practical applications. This research paves the way for developing single-atom catalysts with exceptional catalytic activity and stability, holding promise in advanced green energy conversion through defects engineering.

Transferable non-invasive modal fusion-transformer (NIMFT) for end-to-end hand gesture recognition.

Objective.Recent studies have shown that integrating inertial measurement unit (IMU) signals with surface electromyographic (sEMG) can greatly improve hand gesture recognition (HGR) performance in applications such as prosthetic control and rehabilitation training. However, current deep learning models for multimodal HGR encounter difficulties in invasive modal fusion, complex feature extraction from heterogeneous signals, and limited inter-subject model generalization. To address these challenges, this study aims to develop an end-to-end and inter-subject transferable model that utilizes non-invasively fused sEMG and acceleration (ACC) data.Approach.The proposed non-invasive modal fusion-transformer (NIMFT) model utilizes 1D-convolutional neural networks-based patch embedding for local information extraction and employs a multi-head cross-attention (MCA) mechanism to non-invasively integrate sEMG and ACC signals, stabilizing the variability induced by sEMG. The proposed architecture undergoes detailed ablation studies after hyperparameter tuning. Transfer learning is employed by fine-tuning a pre-trained model on new subject and a comparative analysis is performed between the fine-tuning and subject-specific model. Additionally, the performance of NIMFT is compared to state-of-the-art fusion models.Main results.The NIMFT model achieved recognition accuracies of 93.91%, 91.02%, and 95.56% on the three action sets in the Ninapro DB2 dataset. The proposed embedding method and MCA outperformed the traditional invasive modal fusion transformer by 2.01% (embedding) and 1.23% (fusion), respectively. In comparison to subject-specific models, the fine-tuning model exhibited the highest average accuracy improvement of 2.26%, achieving a final accuracy of 96.13%. Moreover, the NIMFT model demonstrated superiority in terms of accuracy, recall, precision, and F1-score compared to the latest modal fusion models with similar model scale.Significance.The NIMFT is a novel end-to-end HGR model, utilizes a non-invasive MCA mechanism to integrate long-range intermodal information effectively. Compared to recent modal fusion models, it demonstrates superior performance in inter-subject experiments and offers higher training efficiency and accuracy levels through transfer learning than subject-specific approaches.

County medical community, medical insurance package payment, and hierarchical diagnosis and treatment-Empirical analysis of the impact of the pilot project of compact county medical communities in Sichuan Province.

Hierarchical diagnosis and treatment (HDT) is an important exploration direction to alleviate the rising pressure of health expenses and medical insurance fund expenditure in China, and to maintain and protect the public health in this country. In recent years, the construction of compact county medical communities (CCMC) has become the primary approach for implementing the HDT. Utilizing the quasi-natural experiment of the pilot project of CCMC in Sichuan Province in 2019, coupled with county-level data extracted from the ' Sichuan Provincial Health Statistics Yearbook ' spanning the years 2008 to 2021, this research evaluates the effect of the pilot project of CCMC on promoting HDT under the medical insurance package payment model. The results show that the pilot project of CCMC has significantly increased the number of consultations per capita of medical and health institutions in pilot counties by 0.434 times, of which the number of consultations per capita of primary medical institutions has increased by 0.340 times; the number of hospitalizations per capita in public hospitals and primary medical institutions in pilot counties increased significantly, and the surgery rate of inpatients in public hospitals increased by 5% compared to before the pilot. There was no significant impact on the allocation of medical facilities and human resources in the pilot counties. Therefore, the construction of CCMC under the medical insurance package payment mode has promoted the realization of the county-level HDT. These findings provide valuable insights for healthcare policy, especially in developing and implementing effective strategies for HDT in county-level medical institutions.

Unraveling varying spatiotemporal patterns of dengue and associated exposure-response relationships with environmental variables in Southeast Asian countries before and during COVID-19.

The enforcement of COVID-19 interventions by diverse governmental bodies, coupled with the indirect impact of COVID-19 on short-term environmental changes (e.g. plant shutdowns lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions), influences the dengue vector. This provides a unique opportunity to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on dengue transmission and generate insights to guide more targeted prevention measures. We aim to compare dengue transmission patterns and the exposure-response relationship of environmental variables and dengue incidence in the pre- and during-COVID-19 to identify variations and assess the impact of COVID-19 on dengue transmission. We initially visualized the overall trend of dengue transmission from 2012-2022, then conducted two quantitative analyses to compare dengue transmission pre-COVID-19 (2017-2019) and during-COVID-19 (2020-2022). These analyses included time series analysis to assess dengue seasonality, and a Distributed Lag Non-linear Model (DLNM) to quantify the exposure-response relationship between environmental variables and dengue incidence. We observed that all subregions in Thailand exhibited remarkable synchrony with a similar annual trend except 2021. Cyclic and seasonal patterns of dengue remained consistent pre- and during-COVID-19. Monthly dengue incidence in three countries varied significantly. Singapore witnessed a notable surge during-COVID-19, particularly from May to August, with cases multiplying several times compared to pre-COVID-19, while seasonality of Malaysia weakened. Exposure-response relationships of dengue and environmental variables show varying degrees of change, notably in Northern Thailand, where the peak relative risk for the maximum temperature-dengue relationship rose from about 3 to 17, and the max RR of overall cumulative association 0-3 months of relative humidity increased from around 5 to 55. Our study is the first to compare dengue transmission patterns and their relationship with environmental variables before and during COVID-19, showing that COVID-19 has affected dengue transmission at both the national and regional level, and has altered the exposure-response relationship between dengue and the environment.

Protein profile analysis of Jilin white goose testicles at different stages of the laying cycle by DIA strategy.

BACKGROUND: Jilin white goose is an excellent local breed in China, with a high annual egg production and laying eggs mainly from February to July each year. The testis, as the only organ that can produce sperm, can affect the sexual maturity and fecundity of male animals. Its growth and development are affected and regulated by a variety of factors. Proteomics is generally applied to identify and quantify proteins in cells and tissues in order to understand the physiological or pathological changes that occur in tissues or cells under specific conditions. Currently, the female poultry reproductive system has been extensively studied, while few related studies focusing on the regulatory mechanism of the reproductive system of male poultry have been conducted. RESULTS: A total of 1753 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were generated in which there were 594, 391 and 768 different proteins showing differential expression in three stages, Initial of Laying Cycle (ILC), Peak of Laying Cycle (PLC) and End of Laying Cycle (ELC). Furthermore, bioinformatics was used to analyze the DEPs. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment, Clusters of Orthologous Groups (COG), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were adopted. All DEPs were found to be implicated in multiple biological processes and pathways associated with testicular development, such as renin secretion, Lysosomes, SNARE interactions in vesicle trafficking, the p53 signaling pathway and pathways related to metabolism. Additionally, the reliability of transcriptome results was verified by real-time quantitative PCR by selecting the transcript abundance of 6 selected DEPs at the three stages of the laying cycle. CONCLUSIONS: The funding in this study will provide critical insight into the complex molecular mechanisms and breeding practices underlying the developmental characteristics of testicles in Jilin white goose.

Metabolite identification of salvianolic acid A in rat using post collision-induced dissociation energy-resolved mass spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: As one of the most famous natural products, salvianolic acid A (SAA) is undergoing clinical trials for the treatments of angina pectoris and coronary heart disorders. However, the in vivo metabolites of SAA have only been tentatively identified, leading to a barrier for precise therapeutical drug monitoring. METHODS: Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-Qtof-MS/MS) was firstly employed to acquire high-resolution MS1 and MS2 spectra for all metabolites. Through paying special attention onto the features of ester bond dissociation, metabolism sites were restricted at certain regions. To further determine the metabolism site, such as the monomethylated products (M23, M25, and M26), post collision-induced dissociation energy-resolved mass spectrometry (post-CID ER-MS) was proposed through programming progressive exciting energies to the second collision chamber of hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry (Qtrap-MS) device. RESULTS: After SAA oral administration, 29 metabolites (M1-M29), including five, thirteen, and sixteen ones in rat plasma, urine, and feces, respectively, were detected in rats. The metabolism route was initially determined by applying well-defined mass fragmentation pathways to those HR-m/z values of precursor and fragment ions. Metabolism site was limited to SAF- or DSS-unit based on the fragmentation patterns of ester functional group. Through matching the dissociation trajectories of concerned 1st-generation fragment ions with expected decomposition product anions using post-CID ER-MS strategy, M23 and M25 were unequivocally assigned as 3'-methyl-SAA and 3''-methyl-SAA, and M26 was identified as 2-methyl-SAA or 3-methyl-SAA. Hydrolysis, methylation, glucuronidation, sulfation, and oxidation were the primary metabolism channels being responsible for the metabolites' generation. CONCLUSION: Together, the metabolism regions and sites of SAA metabolites were sequentially identified based on the ester bond dissociation features and post-CID ER-MS strategy. Importantly, the present study provided a promising way to elevate the structural identification confidence of natural products and metabolites.

Impacts of social deprivation on mortality and protective effects of greenness exposure in Hong Kong, 1999-2018: A spatiotemporal perspective.

Addressing health inequality is crucial for fostering healthy city development. However, there is a dearth of literature simultaneously investigating the effects of social deprivation and greenness exposure on mortality risks, as well as how greenness exposure may mitigate the adverse effect of social deprivation on mortality risks from a spatiotemporal perspective. Drawing on socioeconomic, remote sensing, and mortality record data, this study presents spatiotemporal patterns of social deprivation, population weighted greenness exposure, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Hong Kong. A Bayesian regression model was applied to investigate the impacts of social deprivation and greenness exposure on mortality and examine how socioeconomic inequalities in mortality may vary across areas with different greenness levels in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2018. We observed a decline in social deprivation (0.67-0.56), and an increase in greenness exposure (0.34-0.41) in Hong Kong during 1999-2018. Areas with high mortality gradually clustered in the Kowloon Peninsula and the northern regions of Hong Kong Island. Adverse impacts of social deprivation on all-cause mortality weakened in recent years (RR from 2009 to 2013: 1.103, 95%CI: 1.051-1.159, RR from 2014 to 2018: 1.041 95%CI: 0.950-1.139), while the protective impacts of greenness exposure consistently strengthened (RR from 1999 to 2003: 0.903, 95%CI: 0.827-0.984, RR from 2014 to 2018: 0.859, 95%CI: 0.763-0.965). Moreover, the adverse effects of social deprivation on mortality risks were found to be higher in areas with lower greenness exposure. These findings provide evidence of associations between social deprivation, greenness exposure, and mortality risks in Hong Kong over the past decades, and highlight the potential of greenness exposure to mitigate health inequalities. Our study provides valuable implications for policymakers to develop a healthy city.

Spatial decoupling of bromide-mediated process boosts propylene oxide electrosynthesis.

The electrochemical synthesis of propylene oxide is far from practical application due to the limited performance (including activity, stability, and selectivity). In this work, we spatially decouple the bromide-mediated process to avoid direct contact between the anode and propylene, where bromine is generated at the anode and then transferred into an independent reactor to react with propylene. This strategy effectively prevents the side reactions and eliminates the interference to stability caused by massive alkene input and vigorously stirred electrolytes. As expected, the selectivity for propylene oxide reaches above 99.9% with a remarkable Faradaic efficiency of 91% and stability of 750-h (>30 days). When the electrode area is scaled up to 25 cm2, 262 g of pure propylene oxide is obtained after 50-h continuous electrolysis at 6.25 A. These findings demonstrate that the electrochemical bromohydrin route represents a viable alternative for the manufacture of epoxides.