Astrocyte gap junction dysfunction activates JAK2-STAT3 pathway to mediate inflammation in depression.

Connexin 43 (Cx43) is highly expressed in astrocytes and forms gap junctions that maintain intercellular communication. Dysfunctional gap junctions in astrocytes exacerbate depressive symptoms, which has been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression. Inflammatory responses occur in the brains of most people with depression.

Effectiveness of combining Qingyanyin formulated granules with press needles in treating abdominal obesity: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety of the Qingyanyin formulated granules (, QYY), press needles (PN), and their combined application in addressing abdominal obesity (AO). This trial aims to offer a more scientifically grounded therapeutic regimen for clinical interventions.

Methods: From March 2021 to July 2021, a multicenter, triple blind, randomized 2 × 2 factorial design clinical trial was conducted across 7 centers in 4 major cities within mainland China.

Therapeutic effect of dihydroartemisinin on Alzheimer's disease model mice with senile macular degeneration.

Objectives: This study focuses on the preventive and therapeutic effects of Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) on Alzheimer's disease (AD) model mice and the effects of DHA and donepezil on amyloid β-protein deposition and autophagy in nerve cells.

Methods: Six autophagy related targets were selected for molecular docking with DHA to predict the affinity between DHA and the target. The AD mouse model was established and treated with donepezil and DHA, respectively.

Polarization-independent dual-peak filter based on a cylindrically symmetric helical small-period fiber grating.

A polarization-independent dual-peak narrow-band filter is proposed and demonstrated theoretically and experimentally, which is realized by using a helical long-period fiber grating (HLPG) but with a period small down to tens of micrometers. Unlike those excessively tilted fiber gratings (Ex-TFGs) or the conventional long-period fiber gratings (LPGs) but with a small period down to tens of micrometers where the generated dual-peak pairs (DPPs) are all of the strong polarization-dependence, the DPPs obtained in this study are of the polarization-independent, which is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that the underlying mechanism for generation of the polarization-independent DPPs in transmission spectrum of the helical small-period fiber grating (HSPFG) has been revealed both theoretically and experimentally.

Development of entrustable professional activities for novice nurses: A modified Delphi study.

Aim: This study aimed to develop a tailored EPA framework for novice nurses to support their integration and performance in hospital settings.

Background: Novice nurses often struggle with the transition from education to practice due to the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. EPAs help bridge this gap by defining and assessing key competencies, but a framework specific to novice nurses is needed to address their unique challenges.

Flexible generation of azimuthally/radially polarized beams and hybrid polarized vortex beams using a thinned helical fiber grating.

An efficient method allowing the flexible generation of the azimuthally/radially polarized (AP/RP) beam and the hybrid polarized vortex (HPV) beam has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated by using a thinned helical fiber grating (T-HFG) with an intermediate period. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that such three kinds of cylindrical vector beams can be flexibly generated by using only one fiber component. The proposed method provides the potential application of the HFG to not only the laser processing but also the optical manipulator and the optical tweezer.

Microbiota characterization of the green mussel at the tissue scale and its relationship with the environment.

Research on the microbiota associated with marine invertebrates is important for understanding host physiology and the relationship between the host and the environment. In this study, the microbiota of the green mussel was characterized at the tissue scale using 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and compared with the microbiota of the surrounding environment. Different mussel tissues were sampled, along with two environmental samples (the mussel's attachment substratum and seawater).

Full C-band covered and DWDM channelized high channel-count all-fiber orbital-angular-momentum mode generator based on the fiber gratings.

To generate the orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) modes at multiple wavelengths, which exactly fit with the dense-wavelength-division-multiplex (DWDM) channel grids, is important to the DWDM-based OAM mode-division-multiplex (MDM) fiber communication system. In this study, a full C-band covered and DWDM channelized OAM mode generator is firstly proposed and experimentally demonstrated, which is realized especially by using a broadband helical long-period fiber grating (HLPG) combined with a phase-only sampled multichannel fiber Bragg grating (MFBG). As a proof-of-concept example, the DWDM channelized two complementary 51-channel OAM mode generators have been successfully demonstrated, each of which has a channel spacing of 100 GHz (∼0.

miR5298b regulated taxol biosynthesis by acting on TcNPR3, resulting in an alleviation of the strong inhibition of the TcNPR3-TcTGA6 complex in Taxus chinensis.

Taxol, a valuable but rare secondary metabolite of the genus Taxus, is an effective anticancer drug. Understanding the regulation of taxol biosynthesis may provide a means to increase taxol content. The microRNA miR5298b was found to promote the accumulation of taxol and upregulate several taxol biosynthesis genes, including DBAT, TASY, and T5H, as demonstrated by experiments using the overexpression and mimicry of transient leaves.

Exposure to Bisphenol A induces abnormal fetal heart development by promoting ferroptosis.

Background: Bisphenol A (BPA), a common endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), has been revealed to be closely associated with the induction of abnormal heart development, obesity, prediabetes, and other metabolic disorders. However, the underlying mechanism of maternal BPA exposure on fetal heart development abnormalities is not clear.

Methods: To explore the adverse effects of BPA and its potential mechanism on heart development, C57BL/6 J mice and human cardiac AC-16 cells were used to conduct in vivo and in vitro studies.

Photosynthetic product allocations of seedlings inoculated with ectomycorrhizal fungi along a nitrogen addition gradient.

Quantifying the allocation of photosynthetic products among different carbon (C) pools is critical for understanding and predicting plant C turnover response to climate change. A field experiment with ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) and nitrogen (N) was established to investigate the effects on allocation of photosynthetic products in (Lamb.) seedlings given increased N deposition.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of the super hybrid rice Chaoyouqianhao under salt stress.

Background: Soil salinization is a threat to food security. China is rich in saline land resources for potential and current utilization. The cultivation and promotion of salt-tolerant rice varieties can greatly improve the utilization of this saline land.

Auto-focusing and quantitative phase imaging using deep learning for the incoherent illumination microscopy system.

It is well known that the quantitative phase information which is vital in the biomedical study is hard to be directly obtained with bright-field microscopy under incoherent illumination. In addition, it is impossible to maintain the living sample in focus over long-term observation. Therefore, both the autofocusing and quantitative phase imaging techniques have to be solved in microscopy simultaneously.

DL-SI-DHM: a deep network generating the high-resolution phase and amplitude images from wide-field images.

Structured illumination digital holographic microscopy (SI-DHM) is a high-resolution, label-free technique enabling us to image unstained biological samples. SI-DHM has high requirements on the stability of the experimental setup and needs long exposure time. Furthermore, image synthesizing and phase correcting in the reconstruction process are both challenging tasks.

Numerical dark-field imaging using deep-learning.

Dark-field microscopy is a powerful technique for enhancing the imaging resolution and contrast of small unstained samples. In this study, we report a method based on end-to-end convolutional neural network to reconstruct high-resolution dark-field images from low-resolution bright-field images. The relation between bright- and dark-field which was difficult to deduce theoretically can be obtained by training the corresponding network.

Effects of Different Denaturants on Properties and Performance of Soy Protein-Based Adhesive.

Chemical modification of soy protein, via crosslinking, is the preferred method for creating non-toxic, renewable, environmentally friendly wood adhesives. The denaturing process of protein is important for the adhesive performance improvement. In order to investigate the effect of different denaturing agents on the performance of soy protein-based adhesives before and after crosslinking modification.

Abnormal functional network of the thalamic subregions in adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The thalamus plays an important role in pathological mechanisms underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). As the thalamus is a heterogeneous brain region, functional connectivity (FC) between thalamic subregions and other brain regions is worth investigating in OCD. In addition, the relationship between abnormal FC and clinical symptoms is still unclear.

Gelsolin-like actin-capping protein has prognostic value and promotes tumorigenesis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition the Hippo signaling pathway in human bladder cancer.

Background: Transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) of the bladder, the major histologic subtype of bladder cancer, is increasing in incidence and mortality, which requires the identification of effective biomarkers. Actin-regulating proteins have recently been proposed as important antitumor druggable targets. As a gelsolin-family actin-modulating protein, CAPG (gelsolin-like actin-capping protein) generated great interest due to its crucial effects in various biological and physiological processes; however, the role and mechanism of CAPG in TCCs remain unknown.

Potential Regulatory Effects of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor on Tight Junction-Related Intestinal Epithelial Permeability are Partially Mediated by CK8 Upregulation.

Background/aims: Intestinal permeability and stress have been implicated in the pathophysiology of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Cytokeratin 8 (CK8), for the first time, has been shown to mediate corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF)-induced changes in intestinal permeability in animal models of IBS. In this study, we investigated the regulatory effects of CRF on the permeability of human intestinal epithelial cells through the CK8-mediated tight junction.

Dencichine ameliorates kidney injury in induced type II diabetic nephropathy via the TGF-β/Smad signalling pathway.

Diabetic nephropathy (DN), a common complication associated with both type I and type II diabetes mellitus (DM), is a major cause of chronic nephropathy and a common cause of end-stage renal diseases (ESRD) throughout the world. This study is aimed to determine whether dencichine (De) can ameliorate renal damage in high-glucose-and-fat diet combined STZ (streptozocin) induced DN in type II DM rats and to investigate the potential underlying mechanisms. Markers of metabolism, diabetes, and renal function, and levels of extracellular matrix (ECM) collagen I (Col I), collagen IV (Col IV), fibronectin (FN) and laminin (LN), and of proteins in the TGF-β/Smad pathway were analysed through RT-PCR, western blot, immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry.

MicroRNA-146a promote cell migration and invasion in human colorectal cancer via carboxypeptidase M/src-FAK pathway.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide, and microRNAs play important roles in CRC progression. This study aimed to investigate the roles of miR-146a-5p in human CRC and their molecular mechanisms. First, we found that miR-146a-5p was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues and promoted the migration of CRC cells.

Predictive Factors for the Spontaneous Recanalization of Large and Middle Cerebral Arteries after Acute Occlusion.

Objective: This study aims to investigate the predictive factors for the spontaneous recanalization of occluded arteries in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: A total of 139 patients with consecutive acute ischemic stroke were enrolled from June 2010 to June 2013. The clinical and biochemical parameters were measured in each participant.

Vortex Filaments in Grids for Scalable, Fine Smoke Simulation.

Vortex modeling can produce attractive visual effects of dynamic fluids, which are widely applicable for dynamic media, computer games, special effects, and virtual reality systems. However, it is challenging to effectively simulate intensive and fine detailed fluids such as smoke with fast increasing vortex filaments and smoke particles. The authors propose a novel vortex filaments in grids scheme in which the uniform grids dynamically bridge the vortex filaments and smoke particles for scalable, fine smoke simulation with macroscopic vortex structures.

Detection of protein-small molecule binding using a self-referencing external cavity laser biosensor.

High throughput screening of protein-small molecule binding interactions using label-free optical biosensors is challenging, as the detected signals are often similar in magnitude to experimental noise. Here, we describe a novel self-referencing external cavity laser (ECL) biosensor approach that achieves high resolution and high sensitivity, while eliminating thermal noise with sub-picometer wavelength accuracy. Using the self-referencing ECL biosensor, we demonstrate detection of binding between small molecules and a variety of immobilized protein targets with binding affinities or inhibition constants in the sub-nanomolar to low micromolar range.