Increased miR-3074-5p expression promotes M1 polarization and pyroptosis of macrophages via ERα/NLRP3 pathway and induces adverse pregnancy outcomes in mice

Decidual macrophages (dMϕs) play critical roles in regulation of immune-microhomeostasis at maternal-fetal interface during pregnancy, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, it was found that litter size and fetal weight were significantly reduced, whereas the rate of embryo resorption was increased in miR-3074-5p knock-in (3074-KI) pregnant mice, compared to that of wild-type (WT) pregnant mice. Plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in 3074-KI pregnant mice were also significantly elevated compared to WT pregnant mice at GD7.5. The quantity of M1-Mϕs in uterine tissues of 3074-KI pregnant mice was significantly increased compared to WT pregnant mice at GD13.5. Estrogen receptor-α (ERα) was validated to be a target of miR-3074-5p. Either miR-3074-5p overexpression or ERα knockdown promoted transcriptional activity of NF-κB/p65, induced M1-polarization and pyroptosis of THP1-derived Mϕs, accompanied with increased intracellular levels of cleaved Caspase-1, cleaved IL-1β, NLRP3, cleaved GSDMD and ASC aggregation. Furthermore, ERα could not only bind to NLRP3 or ASC directly, but also inhibit the interaction between NLRP3 and ASC. The endometrial miR-3074-5p expression level at the middle secretory stage of repeated implantation failure (RIF) patients was significantly decreased compared to that of control fertile women. These data indicated that miR-3074-5p could promote M1 polarization and pyroptosis of Mϕs via activation of NLRP3 inflammasome by targeting ERα, and the dysregulation of miR-3074-5p expression in dMϕs might damage the embryo implantation and placentation by interfering with inflammatory microenvironment at the maternal-fetal interface during early pregnancy.

Use of Interfacial Interactions and Complexation of Carbon Dots to Construct Ultra-Robust and Efficient Photothermal Film From Micro-Carbonized Polysaccharides

Solar energy conversion technologies, particularly solar-driven photothermal conversion, are both clean and manageable. Although much progress has been made in designing solar-driven photothermal materials, significant challenges remain, not least the photobleaching of organic dyes. To tackle these issues, micro-carbonized polysaccharide chains, with carbon dots (CDs) suspended from the chains, are conceived, just like grapes or tomatoes hanging from a vine. Carbonization of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) produces just such a structure (termed CMC-g-CDs), which is used to produce an ultra-stable, robust, and efficient solar-thermal film by interfacial interactions within the CMC-g-CDs. The introduction of the CDs into the matrix of the photothermal material effectively avoided the problem of photobleaching. Manipulating the interfacial interactions (such as electrostatic interactions, van der Waals interactions, π-π stacking, and hydrogen bonding) between the CDs and the polymer chains markedly enhances the mechanical properties of the photothermal film. The CMC-g-CDs are complexed with Fe3+ to eliminate leakage of the photothermal reagent from the matrix and to solve the problem of poor water resistance. The resulting film (CMC-g-CDs-Fe) has excellent prospects for practical application as a photothermal film.

Structure and phase transitions in niobium and tantalum derived nanoscale transition metal perovskites, Ba(Ti,MV)O3, M=Nb,Ta

The prospect of creating ferroelectric or high permittivity nanomaterials provides motivation for investigating complex transition metal oxides of the form Ba(Ti, MV)O3, where M = Nb or Ta. Solid state processing typically produces mixtures of crystalline phases, rarely beyond minimally doped Nb/Ta. Using a modified sol-gel method, we prepared single phase nanocrystals of Ba(Ti, M)O3. Compositional and elemental analysis puts the empirical formulas close to BaTi0.5Nb0.5O3-δ and BaTi0.5Ta0.5O3-δ. For both materials, a reversible temperature dependent phase transition (non-centrosymmetric to symmetric) is observed in the Raman spectrum in the region 533-583 K (260-310 °C); for Ba(Ti, Nb)O3, the onset is at 543 K (270 °C); and for Ba(Ti, Ta)O3, the onset is at 533 K (260 °C), which are comparable with 390-393 K (117-120 °C) for bulk BaTiO3. The crystal structure was resolved by examination of the powder x-ray diffraction and atomic pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of synchrotron total scattering data. It was postulated whether the structure adopted at the nanoscale was single or double perovskite. Double perovskites (A2B'B″O6) are characterized by the type and extent of cation ordering, which gives rise to higher symmetry crystal structures. PDF analysis was used to examine all likely candidate structures and to look for evidence of higher symmetry. The feasible phase space that evolves includes the ordered double perovskite structure Ba2(Ti, MV)O6 (M = Nb, Ta) Fm-3m, a disordered cubic structure, as a suitable high temperature analog, Ba(Ti, MV)O3Pm-3m, and an orthorhombic Ba(Ti, MV)O3Amm2, a room temperature structure that presents an unusually high level of lattice displacement, possibly due to octahedral tilting, and indication of a highly polarized crystal.

The vulnerability assessment and obstacle factor analysis of urban agglomeration along the Yellow River in China from the perspective of production-living-ecological space

Urban agglomerations are sophisticated territorial systems at the mature stage of city development that are concentrated areas of production and economic activity. Therefore, the study of vulnerability from the perspective of production-living-ecological space is crucial for the sustainable development of the Yellow River Basin and global urban agglomerations. The relationship between productivity, living conditions, and ecological spatial quality is fully considered in this research. By constructing a vulnerability evaluation index system based on the perspectives of production, ecology, and living space, and adopting the entropy value method, comprehensive vulnerability index model, and obstacle factor diagnostic model, the study comprehensively assesses the vulnerability of the urban agglomerations along the Yellow River from 2001 to 2020. The results reveal that the spatial differentiation characteristics of urban agglomeration vulnerability are significant. A clear three-level gradient distribution of high, medium, and low degrees is seen in the overall vulnerability; these correspond to the lower, middle, and upper reaches of the Yellow River Basin, respectively. The percentage of cities with higher and moderate levels of vulnerability did not vary from 2001 to 2020, while the percentage of cities with high levels of vulnerability did. The four dimensions of economic development, leisure and tourism, resource availability, and ecological pressure are the primary determinants of the urban agglomeration's vulnerability along the Yellow River. And the vulnerability factors of various urban agglomerations showed a significant evolutionary trend; the obstacle degree values have declined, and the importance of tourism and leisure functions has gradually increased. Based on the above conclusions, we propose several suggestions to enhance the quality of urban development along the Yellow River urban agglomeration. Including formulating a three-level development strategy, paying attention to ecological and environmental protection, developing domestic and foreign trade, and properly planning and managing the tourism industry.

Decoding Typical Flight States Based on Neural Signals from the Midbrain Motor Nuclei of Pigeons

BACKGROUND

Exploring the neural encoding mechanism and decoding of motion state switching during flight can advance our knowledge of avian behavior control and contribute to the development of avian robots. However, limited acquisition equipment and neural signal quality have posed challenges, thus we understand little about the neural mechanisms of avian flight.

METHODS

We used chronically implanted micro-electrode arrays to record the local field potentials (LFPs) in the formation reticularis medialis mesencephali (FRM) of pigeons during various motion states in their natural outdoor flight. Subsequently, coherence-based functional connectivity networks under different bands were constructed and the topological features were extracted. Finally, we used a support vector machine model to decode different flight states.

RESULTS

Our findings indicate that the gamma band (80-150 Hz) in the FRM exhibits significant power for identifying different states in pigeons. Specifically, the avian brain transmitted flight related information more efficiently during the accelerated take-off or decelerated landing states, compared with the uniform flight and baseline states. Finally, we achieved a best average accuracy of 0.86 using the connectivity features in the 80-150 Hz band and 0.89 using the fused features for state decoding.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results open up possibilities for further research into the neural mechanism of avian flight and contribute to the understanding of flight behavior control in birds.

[The application of artificial intelligence in prehospital treatment of spinal cord trauma]

The spinal cord trauma induced by production and accidents in the current society has the characteristics of complicated injuries and difficult treatment, which is an important cause of death and disability of the wounded. With the development of computer technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely used in the field of trauma treatment. The application of AI to assist pre-hospital rescue personnel in rapid and accurate identification and emergency treatment of fatal concomitant injuries, the examination of spinal cord function, spinal stabilization, the transport and evacuation of wounded, and supportive treatment can improve the efficiency of spinal cord trauma treatment and reduce the rate of death and disability.

Towards high performance wood composites through interface customization with cellulose-based adhesive

How to efficiently produce high performance plywood is of particular interest, while its sensitivity to moisture is overcome. This paper presents a simple and scalable strategy for the preparation of high-performance plywood based on the chemical bonding theory; a wood interfacial functionalized platform (WIFP) based on (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) was established. Interestingly, the APTES-enhanced dialdehyde cellulose-based adhesive (DAC-APTES) was able to effectively establish chemically active adhesive interfaces; the dry/wet shear strength of WIFP/DAC-APTES adhesive was 3.15/1.31 MPa, which was much higher than 0.7 MPa (GB/T 9846-2015). The prepared plywood showed excellent wood-polymer interface adhesion, which exceeded the force that the wood itself could withstand. In addition, the DAC-APTES adhesive exhibits moisture evaporation-induced curing behavior at room temperature and can easily support the weight of an adult weighing 65.7 Kg. This research provides a novel approach for functionalized interface design of wood products, an effective means to prepare high-performance plywood.

Effect of SIRT1 gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms on susceptibility to type 1 diabetes in a Han Chinese population

AIMS

SIRT1 deficiency has been associated with diabetes, and a variant of the SIRT1 gene has been found to be involved in human autoimmune diabetes; however, it is unclear whether this genetic variation exists in Han Chinese with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and whether it contributes to development of T1D. Therefore, we aimed to explore the association of the SIRT1 gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs10997866 and rs3818292 in a Han Chinese population with T1D.

METHODS

This study recruited 2653 unrelated Han Chinese individuals, of whom 1289 had T1D and 1364 were healthy controls. Allelic and genotypic distributions of SIRT1 polymorphisms (rs10997866 and rs3818292) were determined by MassARRAY. Basic characteristics, genotype and allele frequencies of selected SNPs were compared between the T1D patients and healthy controls. Further genotype-phenotype association analysis of the SNPs was performed on the T1D patients divided into three groups according to genotype. Statistical analyses included the chi-square test, Mann‒Whitney U test, Kruskal‒Wallis H test and logistic regression.

RESULTS

The allelic (G vs. A) and genotypic (GA vs. AA) distributions of SIRT1 rs10997866 were significantly different in T1D patients and healthy controls (P = 0.039, P = 0.027), and rs10997866 was associated with T1D susceptibility under dominant, overdominant and additive models (P = 0.026, P = 0.030 and P = 0.027, respectively). Moreover, genotype-phenotype association analysis showed the GG genotype of rs10997866 and the GG genotype of rs3818292 to be associated with higher titers of IA-2A (P = 0.013 and P = 0.038, respectively).

CONCLUSION

SIRT1 rs10997866 is significantly associated with T1D susceptibility, with the minor allele G conferring a higher risk of T1D. Moreover, SIRT1 gene rs10997866 and rs3818292 correlate with the titer of IA-2A in Han Chinese individuals with T1D.

Recovery of Cembratrien-Diols from Waste Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) Flowers by Microwave-Assisted Deep Eutectic Solvent Extraction: Optimization, Separation, and In Vitro Bioactivity

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are novel solvents with physicochemical properties similar to those of ionic liquids, and they have attracted extensive attention for the extraction of bioactive compounds from different plant materials in the context of green chemistry and sustainable development. In this study, seven DESs with different polarities were explored as green extraction solvents for cembratrien-diols (CBT-diols) from waste tobacco flowers. The best solvent, DES-3 (choline chloride: lactic acid (1:3)), which outperformed conventional solvents (methanol, ethanol, and ethyl acetate), was selected and further optimized for microwave-assisted DES extraction using the response surface methodology. The maximum yield of CBT-diols (6.23 ± 0.15 mg/g) was achieved using a microwave power of 425 W, microwave time of 32 min, solid/liquid ratio of 20 mg/mL, and microwave temperature of 40 °C. Additionally, the isolated CBT-diols exhibited strong antimicrobial activity against Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and antitumor activity in the human liver cancer HepG2 and SMMC-7721 cell lines. This study highlights the feasibility of recovering CBT-diols from tobacco flower waste using DESs and provides opportunities for potential waste management using green technologies.

Progress of Micro-Stimulation Techniques to Alter Pigeons' Motor Behavior: A Review from the Perspectives of the Neural Basis and Neuro-Devices

Pigeons have natural advantages in robotics research, including a wide range of activities, low energy consumption, good concealment performance, strong long-distance weight bearing and continuous flight ability, excellent navigation, and spatial cognitive ability, etc. They are typical model animals in the field of animal robot research and have important application value. A hot interdisciplinary research topic and the core content of pigeon robot research, altering pigeon motor behavior using brain stimulation involves multiple disciplines including animal ethology, neuroscience, electronic information technology and artificial intelligence technology, etc. In this paper, we review the progress of altering pigeon motor behavior using brain stimulation from the perspectives of the neural basis and neuro-devices. The recent literature on altering pigeon motor behavior using brain stimulation was investigated first. The neural basis, structure and function of a system to alter pigeon motor behavior using brain stimulation are briefly introduced below. Furthermore, a classified review was carried out based on the representative research achievements in this field in recent years. Our summary and discussion of the related research progress cover five aspects including the control targets, control parameters, control environment, control objectives, and control system. Future directions that need to be further studied are discussed, and the development trend in altering pigeon motor behavior using brain stimulation is projected.

Quantitative assessment of the erosion and deposition effects of landslide-dam outburst flood, Eastern Himalaya

Both regular flow and infrequent outburst floods shape the mountain landscape, but their relative contributions have been widely debated, in part due to the paucity of quantitative data on historical outburst floods. In June 2000, an outburst flood was triggered by a landslide-dam failure in a rapidly exhumed region of the Eastern Himalaya. To investigate the role of this kind outburst flood on landscape evolution, we employ topographic differencing, satellite imagery, and 2D hydraulic simulations to quantify the equivalent erosion and deposition within ~ 80 km flood route downstream of the breach. The flood lasted for ~ 10 h, with a peak discharge of 105 m3/s, leading to average erosion of 10 m, and contributed ~ 1-2 × 103 times more sediment than over long-term mean fluvial processes. The flood produced extensive lateral erosion, which triggered a threefold widening of the valley floor and abundant subsequent landslides. The ubiquitous boulder bars deposited in the channel inhibited incision, and facilitated lateral erosion after the flood. The resulting channel configuration and extensive bank erosion continue to affect fluvial dynamics until the next catastrophic flood that remobilizes the boulders. Our quantitative findings highlight the profound importance of recurrent outburst floods for gorge development and landscape evolution in Eastern Himalaya.

Dopamine lesions alter the striatal encoding of single-limb gait

The striatum serves an important role in motor control, and neurons in this area encode the body's initiation, cessation, and speed of locomotion. However, it remains unclear whether the same neurons also encode the step-by-step rhythmic motor patterns of individual limbs that characterize gait. By combining high-speed video tracking, electrophysiology, and optogenetic tagging, we found that a sizable population of both D1 and D2 receptor expressing medium spiny projection neurons (MSNs) were phase-locked to the gait cycle of individual limbs in mice. Healthy animals showed balanced limb phase-locking between D1 and D2 MSNs, while dopamine depletion led to stronger phase-locking in D2 MSNs. These findings indicate that striatal neurons represent gait on a single-limb and step basis, and suggest that elevated limb phase-locking of D2 MSNs may underlie some of the gait impairments associated with dopamine loss.

[Efficacy and safety analysis of hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitors for anemia in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients]

Myelodysplastic syndromes is a heterogeneous group of myeloid neoplastic disorders originating from hematopoietic stem cells and manifesting as pathological bone marrow hematopoiesis and a high risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia. In low-risk patients, the therapeutic goal is to improve hematopoiesis and quality of life. Roxadustat is the world's first oral small-molecule hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, which, unlike conventional erythropoietin, corrects anemia through various mechanisms. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the changes in anemia, iron metabolism, lipids and inflammatory indexes in patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes to evaluate its therapeutic efficacy and safety, and to provide theoretical and practical data for the application of roxadustat in myelodysplastic syndromes.

BINDTI: A bi-directional Intention network for drug-target interaction identification based on attention mechanisms

The identification of drug-target interactions (DTIs) is an essential step in drug discovery. In vitro experimental methods are expensive, laborious, and time-consuming. Deep learning has witnessed promising progress in DTI prediction. However, how to precisely represent drug and protein features is a major challenge for DTI prediction. Here, we developed an end-to-end DTI identification framework called BINDTI based on bi-directional Intention network. First, drug features are encoded with graph convolutional networks based on its 2D molecular graph obtained by its SMILES string. Next, protein features are encoded based on its amino acid sequence through a mixed model called ACmix, which integrates self-attention mechanism and convolution. Third, drug and target features are fused through bi-directional Intention network, which combines Intention and multi-head attention. Finally, unknown drug-target (DT) pairs are classified through multilayer perceptron based on the fused DT features. The results demonstrate that BINDTI greatly outperformed four baseline methods (i.e., CPI-GNN, TransfomerCPI, MolTrans, and IIFDTI) on the BindingDB, BioSNAP, DrugBank, and Human datasets. More importantly, it was more appropriate to predict new DTIs than the four baseline methods on imbalanced datasets. Ablation experimental results elucidated that both bi-directional Intention and ACmix could greatly advance DTI prediction. The fused feature visualization and case studies manifested that the predicted results by BINDTI were basically consistent with the true ones. We anticipate that the proposed BINDTI framework can find new low-cost drug candidates, improve drugs' virtual screening, and further facilitate drug repositioning as well as drug discovery. BINDTI is publicly available at https://github.com/plhhnu/BINDTI.

Biological Control of Rapeseed Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae) using the Endophytic Fungus Didymella macrostoma P2

Didymella macrostoma P2 was isolated from rapeseed (Brassica napus), and it is an endophyte of rapeseed and an antagonist of three rapeseed pathogens, Botrytis cinerea, Leptosphaeria biglobosa and Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. However, whether or not P2 has a suppressive effect on infection of rapeseed by the clubroot pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae remains unknown. This study was conducted to detect production of antimicrobials by P2 and to determine efficacy of the antimicrobials and P2 pycnidiospores in suppression of rapeseed clubroot. Results showed that cultural filtrates (CF) of P2 in potato dextrose broth and the substances in pycnidiospore mucilages exuded from P2 pycnidia were inhibitory to P. brassicae. In the indoor experiment, seeds of the susceptible rapeseed cultivar Zhongshuang No.9 treated with P2 CF and the P2 spore suspension (P2 SS, 1 × 107 spores/ml) reduced clubroot severity by 31% to 70% on the 30-day-old seedlings compared to the control (seeds treated with water). P2 was re-isolated from the roots of the seedlings in the treatment of P2 SS, the average isolation frequency in the healthy roots (26%) was much higher than that (5%) in the diseased roots. In the field experiment, seeds of another susceptible rapeseed cultivar Huayouza 50 (HYZ50) treated with P2 CF, P2 CE (chloroform extract of P2 CF, 30 µg/ml) and P2 SS reduced clubroot severity by 29% to 48% on 60-day-old seedlings and by 28% to 59% on adult plants (220 days old) compared to the control treatment. The three P2 treatments on HYZ50 produced significantly (P < 0.05) higher seed yield than the control treatment on this rapeseed cultivar, and they even generated seed yield similar to that produced by the resistant rapeseed cultivar Shengguang 165R in one of the two seasons. These results suggest that D. macrostoma P2 is an effective biocontrol agent against rapeseed clubroot.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of NF-Y gene family in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.)

Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) gene family is an important transcription factor composed of three subfamilies of NF-YA, NF-YB and NF-YC, which is involved in plant growth, development and stress response. In this study, 63 tobacco NF-Y genes (NtNF-Ys) were identified in Nicotiana tabacum L., including 17 NtNF-YAs, 30 NtNF-YBs and 16 NtNF-YCs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed ten pairs of orthologues from tomato and tobacco and 25 pairs of paralogues from tobacco. The gene structure of NtNF-YAs exhibited similarities, whereas the gene structure of NtNF-YBs and NtNF-YCs displayed significant differences. The NtNF-Ys of the same subfamily exhibited a consistent distribution of motifs and protein 3D structure. The protein interaction network revealed that NtNF-YC12 and NtNF-YC5 exhibited the highest connectivity. Many cis-acting elements related to light, stress and hormone response were found in the promoter of NtNF-Ys. Transcriptome analysis showed that more than half of the NtNF-Y genes were expressed in all tissues, and NtNF-YB9/B14/B15/B16/B17/B29 were specifically expressed in roots. A total of 15, 12, 5, and 6 NtNF-Y genes were found to respond to cold, drought, salt, and alkali stresses, respectively. The results of this study will lay a foundation for further study of NF-Y genes in tobacco and other Solanaceae plants.

Association of prognostic nutritional index with mortalities in American adult cancer survivors: A cohort study based on NHANES, 1999-2018

The prognostic nutritional index (PNI) has been associated with disease progression and overall survival among cancer patients. Nonetheless, the association between PNI and mortality risk in adult cancer patients within the United States remains unexplored. This study aims to elucidate the connection between PNI and prognostic outcomes in American adult cancer patients. This cohort study derived data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination database, involving 4366 American adults diagnosed with cancer between 1999 and 2018. The nutritional status was assessed using the PNI, with higher PNI scores indicating a more favorable nutritional status. The study employed Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard regression to investigate the impact of PNI on various outcomes, including all-cause mortality (ACM), cardiovascular mortality (CAM), and malignancy tumor mortality (MTM) among adult cancer patients. Furthermore, restricted cubic spline models were used to examine the potential nonlinear relationship between the variables by creating hazard ratio (HR) curves at four specific points. The median follow-up duration was 84 months, during which 1530 (35.04%) cases of ACM occurred, including 331 (13.67%) CAM and 449 (10.45%) MTM. COX regression analysis revealed a significant inverse association between PNI and patient prognosis, with HRs of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.93-0.96, p < .001) for ACM, 0.93 (95% CI: 0.90-0.96, p < .001) for CAM, and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.91-0.97, p < .001) for MTM. Both Kaplan-Meier analyses and restricted cubic spline curves showed significant differences in mortality rates related to PNI (p < .001, nonlinear p < .001). Our study provides compelling evidence of a clear association between PNI and reduced risk of ACM, CAM, and MTM in adult cancer patients in the United States. These findings underscore the significance of incorporating PNI as a possible prognostic indicator for individuals diagnosed with cancer.

Ultra-Thin Hydrogen-Organic-Framework (HOF) Nanosheets for Ultra-Stable Alkali Ions Battery Storage

Organic frameworks-based batteries with excellent physicochemical stability and long-term high capacity will definitely reduce the cost, carbon emissions, and metal consumption and contamination. Here, an ultra-stable and ultra-thin perylene-dicyandiamide-based hydrogen organic framework (HOF) nanosheet (P-DCD) of ≈3.5 nm in thickness is developed. When applied in the cathode, the P-DCD exhibits exceptional long-term capacity retention for alkali-ion batteries (AIBs). Strikingly, for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), at current of 2 A g-1, the large reversible capacity of 108 mA h g-1 shows no attenuation within 5 000 cycles. For sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), the related capacity retains 91.7% within 10 000 cycles compared to the initial state, significantly much more stable than conventional organic materials reported previously. Mechanism studies through ex situ and in situ experiments and theoretical density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the impressive long-term performance retention originates from the large electron delocalization, fast ion diffusion, and physicochemical stability within the ultra-thin 2D P-DCD, featuring π-π and hydrogen bonding stacking, nitrogen-rich units, and low impedance. The advantageous features demonstrate that rationally designed stable and effective organic frameworks pave the way to utilizing complete organic materials for developing next-generation low-cost and highly stable energy storage batteries.

Nomogram based on CMTM6 expression and clinical characteristics to predict postoperative overall survival in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of CMTM6 in HCC tissues and its prognostic value, and to try to develop a nomogram prognostic model based on CMTM6.

METHODS

In this retrospective study, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining was performed in 178 patients who underwent radical hepatectomy in the same surgical team. R software was used to construct the nomogram model. The Bootstrap sampling method was used for internal validation.

RESULTS

CMTM6 is significantly expressed in HCC tissues and is closely associated with decreased overall survival (OS). PVTT (HR = 6.2, 95% CI: 3.06 12.6, P<0.001), CMTM6 (HR=2.30, 95% CI: 1.27 4.0, P=0.006) and MVI (HR=10.8, 95% CI: 4.19-27.6, P<0.001) were independent predictors of OS. The nomogram combined with CMTM6, PVTT and MVI was more predictive than the traditional TNM scoring system, and the prediction effects of 1-year and 3-year OS were accurate.

CONCLUSIONS

The prognosis of a patient may be predicted using high levels of CMTM6 expression in HCC tissues, and the nomogram model including CMTM6 expression has the best predictive ability.

Clinical evolution of antisynthetase syndrome-associated interstitial lung disease after COVID-19 in a man with Klinefelter syndrome: A case report

BACKGROUND

This study presents a case of rapidly developing respiratory failure due to antisynthetase syndrome (AS) following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a 33-year-old man diagnosed with Klinefelter syndrome (KS).

CASE SUMMARY

A 33-year-old man with a diagnosis of KS was admitted to the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine of a tertiary hospital in China for fever and shortness of breath 2 wk after the onset of COVID-19. Computed tomography of both lungs revealed diffuse multiple patchy heightened shadows in both lungs, accompanied by signs of partial bronchial inflation. Metagenomic next-generation sequencing of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid suggested absence of pathogen. A biopsy specimen revealed organizing pneumonia with alveolar septal thickening. Additionally, extensive auto-antibody tests showed strong positivity for anti-SSA, anti-SSB, anti-Jo-1, and anti-Ro-52. Following multidisciplinary discussions, the patient received a final diagnosis of AS, leading to rapidly progressing respiratory failure.

CONCLUSION

This study underscores the clinical progression of AS-associated interstitial lung disease subsequent to viral infections such as COVID-19 in patients diagnosed with KS.

Outcomes of single-procedure radiofrequency catheter ablation for idiopathic ventricular arrhythmias: a single-centre retrospective cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Radiofrequency catheter ablation is the first-line treatment for idiopathic premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) and ventricular tachycardias (VTs). However, the outcomes were less compared among the categories. The study aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of catheter ablation for idiopathic PVC/VTs in a single high-volume centre, using the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) as a reference.

DESIGN

Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING

Patient data were collected from a tertiary hospital in Guizhou, China.

PARTICIPANTS

Between September 2013 and September 2022, 1028 patients (male: 41.3%; age: 46.5±15.6 years) who underwent the first catheter ablation for idiopathic monomorphic PVC/VTs were enrolled.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Acute success, procedure-related complications, and long-term recurrence were assessed. Antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs) were not administrated after procedures unless recurrence was identified.

RESULTS

The overall acute success rate was 90.3%, with 368 patients (35.8%) experiencing left ventricular PVC/VTs. No cases of third-degree atrioventricular block or death were reported. Complications were more common in patients with left ventricular PVC/VTs than those with right-sided ones (4.6% vs 0.1%, p<0.001). A total of 926 patients (90.1%) were followed up for an average of 9.7±3.7 months, and only the PVC/VTs category was found to be associated with long-term success rates. The RVOT, endocardial left ventricular outflow tract (endoLVOT), tricuspid annulus (TA) free wall, posterior septum and fascicular VT had long-term success rates exceeding 85%. Other types of PVC/VTs showed significantly higher risks of recurrence.

CONCLUSIONS

Besides RVOT and fascicular VT, single-procedure catheter ablation without AADs is highly effective for endoLVOT, TA-free wall and posterior septum. Patients with left ventricular PVC/VTs have higher complication risks compared with right ones.

[A real-world study on the features of postpartum hepatitis flares in pregnant women with chronic HBV infection]

Objective: To analyze the clinical features of postpartum hepatitis flares in pregnant women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted. Patients who met the enrollment criteria were included. Liver function and HBV virology tests were collected from pregnant women with chronic HBV infection at delivery, 6, 24, 36, and 48 weeks after delivery through the hospital information and test system. Additionally, antiviral therapy types and drug withdrawal times were collected. Statistical analysis was performed on all the resulting data. Results: A total of 533 pregnant women who met the inclusion criteria were included, with all patients aged (29.5±3.7) years old. A total of 408 cases received antiviral drugs during pregnancy to interrupt mother-to-child transmission. There was no significant difference in the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT, z = -1.981, P = 0.048), aspartate aminotransferase (AST, z = -3.956, P < 0.001), HBV load (z = -15.292, P < 0.001), and HBeAg (z = -4.77, P < 0.001) at delivery in patients who received medication and those who did not. All patients ALT, AST, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, and albumin showed an upward trend within six weeks after delivery. A total of 231 cases developed hepatitis within 48 weeks after delivery. Among them, 173 cases first showed ALT abnormalities within six weeks postpartum. Conclusion: Hepatitis flare incidence peaked six weeks after delivery or six weeks after drug withdrawal in pregnant women with chronic HBV infection.

Lobster-Inspired Chitosan-Derived Adhesives with a Biomimetic Design

Polysaccharide-based adhesives, especially chitosan (CS)-derived adhesives, serve as promising sustainable alternatives to traditional adhesives. However, most demonstrate a poor adhesive strength. Inspired by the inherent layered structure of marine arthropods (lobsters), a core-shell structure (SiO2-NH2@OPG) with amine-functionalized silica (SiO2-NH2) as the core and oxidized pyrogallol (OPG) as the shell is prepared in this study. The compound is blended with CS to produce a structural biomimetic wood adhesive (SiO2-NH2@OPG/CS) with excellent performance. In addition to thermocompressive curing, this adhesive exhibits a water-evaporation-induced curing behavior at room temperature. With reference to the design mechanism of the lobster cuticle, this microphase-separated structure consists of clustered nanofibers with varying amounts of SiO2-NH2@OPG particles between the fibers. This intriguing microphase structure and its mechanical effects could offer a powerful solution for improving the functional modification of wood composites.