Grafting Buffer Layer Strategy onto the Nanofiltration Membrane to Enhance Antifouling Properties toward Highly Efficient Desalination.

Water treatment and seawater desalination are two areas in which nanofiltration (NF) membranes have gained significant attention. The permeability and contamination resistance of NF membranes are crucial for their application in ion separation. Herein, a zwitterion monomeric -sulfobutylpiperazine (PIPBS) was designed and synthesized through an in situ ring-opening reaction between 1,4-butylsulfonic acid lactone and piperazine.

Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Lubiprostone and Osmotic Laxatives in Chronic Idiopathic Constipation: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare the efficacy and safety of lubiprostone (Lub) with osmotic laxatives in the treatment of chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC).

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library in May 2024. Studies that met the inclusion criteria were manually searched by two independent reviewers.

Phenological divergence between plants and animals under climate change.

Climate change has altered the timing of recurring biological cycles in both plants and animals. Phenological changes may be unequal within and among trophic levels, potentially impacting the intricate interactions that regulate ecosystem functioning. Here we compile and analyse a global dataset of terrestrial phenological observations, including nearly half a million time series for both plants and animals.

rTM reprograms macrophages via the HIF-1α/METTL3/PFKM axis to protect mice against sepsis.

The metabolic reprogramming of macrophages is a potential therapeutic strategy for sepsis treatment, but the mechanism underlying this reprogramming remains unclear. Since glycolysis can drive macrophage phenotype switching, the rate-limiting enzymes in glycolysis may be key to treating sepsis. Here, we found that, compared with other isoenzymes, the expression of 6-phosphofructokinase, muscle type (PFKM) was the most upregulated in monocytes from septic patients.

An Imine-Functionalized Silicone-Based Epoxy Coating with Stable Adhesion and Controllable Degradation for Enhanced Marine Antifouling and Anticorrosion Properties.

Biofouling and corrosion of submerged equipment caused by marine organisms severely restrict the rapid development of the marine industry. Traditional antifouling or anticorrosion coatings typically serve a sole purpose and exhibit limited degradability upon failure, rendering them inadequate for current demands. Herein, a novel imine-functionalized command-degradable bio-based epoxy coating (SAHPEP-DDM) with enhanced integrated antifouling and anticorrosion performances was synthesized utilizing 1,3-bis (3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane and syringaldehyde.

Consistent time allocation fraction to vegetation green-up versus senescence across northern ecosystems despite recent climate change.

Extended growing season lengths under climatic warming suggest increased time for plant growth. However, research has focused on climatic impacts to the timing or duration of distinct phenological events. Comparatively little is known about impacts to the relative time allocation to distinct phenological events, for example, the proportion of time dedicated to leaf growth versus senescence.

Clinicopathologic and endoscopic characteristics of ten patients with gastric hamartomatous inverted polyp: a single center case series.

Background: Gastric hamartomatous inverted polyps (GHIPs) are not well characterized and remain diagnostically challenging due to rarity. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the clinicopathologic and endoscopic characteristics of patients with GHIP.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed clinicopathologic and endoscopic features of ten patients with GHIP who were admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital from March 2013 to July 2022.

Efficacy and safety of Shenbai Granules for recurrent colorectal adenoma: A multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Background: Colorectal adenoma is benign glandular tumor of colon, the precursor of colorectal cancer. But no pharmaceutical medication is currently available to treat and prevent adenomas.

Purpose: To evaluate efficacy of Shenbai Granules, an herbal medicine formula, in reducing the recurrence of adenomas.

Highly Antibacterial and Self-Healing Janus Fabric for Effective Body Moisture/Thermal Management and Durable Waterproof.

Despite the development of many functional fabrics, they are unable to meet practical needs due to their monolithic functions and low durability. Therefore, a multifunctional waterborne polyurethane nanodroplet containing disulfide bonds (WSPU) was synthesized using a simple and environmentally friendly approach. The functional WSPU nanodroplet coating endowed fabrics with a variety of properties, including exceptional hydrophobicity, antibacterial properties, self-healing at room temperature, directional transport, etc.

Carvedilol Plus NUC for Patients With HBV-Compensated Cirrhosis Under Virological Suppression: A Randomized Open-Label Trial.

Introduction: Portal hypertension progression can be relieved after controlling the etiology of liver cirrhosis. Whether beta-blockers could additionally enhance the effects during treatment, particularly for small esophageal varices (EV), was unclear. This study aims to assess the efficacy of add-on carvedilol to delay EV progression during anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment in HBV-related cirrhosis.

Spatiotemporal variation of cold requirements for leaf coloration and its environmental cues over the northern deciduous broadleaved forests.

Evaluating the interactions between cold requirements for leaf coloration and environmental cues is crucial for understanding the mechanisms of leaf senescence and accurately predicting autumn phenology. Based on remote sensing-derived and ground-observed leaf coloration dates for deciduous broadleaf forests during 1981-2014, we determined location-specific cold requirements for autumn leaf coloration and assessed their spatiotemporal changes. Then, we revealed the major environmental cues of cold requirements and their spatial differentiation.

A Facile Strategy to Construct Anti-Swelling, Antibacterial, and Antifogging Coatings for Protection of Medical Goggles.

During the COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) pandemic, traditional medical goggles are not only easy to attach bacteria and viruses in long-term exposure, but easy to fogged up, which increases the risk of infection and affects productivity. Bacterial adhesion and fog can be significantly inhibited through the hydrogel coatings, owing to super hydrophilic properties. On the one hand, hydrogel coatings are easy to absorb water and swell in wet environment, resulting in reduced mechanical properties, even peeling off.

Research on the Impact Mechanical Properties of Real-Time High-Temperature Granite and a Coupled Thermal-Mechanical Constitutive Model.

Studying the mechanical behavior of rocks under real-time high-temperature conditions is of great significance for the development of energy caverns, nuclear waste disposal projects, and tunneling engineering. In this study, a real-time high-temperature impact compression test was conducted on Sejila Mountain granite to explore the effects of temperature and external load on its mechanical properties. Based on the concepts of damage mechanics and statistics, a coupled thermal-mechanical (T-M) damage constitutive model was established, which considers the temperature effect and uses the double-shear unified strength as the yield criterion.

A Multi-Task Multi-Stage Transitional Training Framework for Neural Chat Translation.

Neural chat translation (NCT) aims to translate a cross-lingual chat between speakers of different languages. Existing context-aware NMT models cannot achieve satisfactory performances due to the following inherent problems: 1) limited resources of annotated bilingual dialogues; 2) the neglect of modelling conversational properties; 3) training discrepancy between different stages. To address these issues, in this paper, we propose a multi-task multi-stage transitional (MMT) training framework, where an NCT model is trained using the bilingual chat translation dataset and additional monolingual dialogues.

Hsa_circ_0008500 inhibits apoptosis of adipose-derived stem cells under high glucose through hsa-miR-1273h-5p/ELK1 axis.

Preliminary researches have confirmed that the number of apoptosis of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) in patients with diabetes is significantly increased, leading to a difficult healing wound. Increasing researches revealed that circular RNAs (circRNAs) can control apoptosis. However, it is still unclear whether and how circRNAs are critical for regulating ADSCs apoptosis.

Autoimmune gastritis with a gastric hamartomatous inverted polyp and two hyperplastic polyps: a case report.

We report an unusual case of autoimmune gastritis (AIG) complicated with a submucosal tumor (SMT) and two pedunculated polyps in a 60-year-old man. The patient was admitted for epigastric distention, heartburn, and anorexia. Endoscopy showed an SMT in the fundus, two pedunculated polyps in the body, and markedly atrophic mucosa of the body and fundus.

Negative relationship between photosynthesis and late-stage canopy development and senescence over Tibetan Plateau.

Canopy greening, which is associated with significant canopy structure changes, is the most notable signal of ecosystem changes in response to anthropogenic climate change. However, our knowledge of the changing pattern of canopy development and senescence, and its endogenous and climatic drivers is still limited. Here, we used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to quantify the changes in the speed of canopy development and senescence over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 2000-2018, and used a solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence dataset as a proxy for photosynthesis, in combination with climate datasets to decipher the endogenous and climatic drivers of the interannual variation in canopy changes.

Hsa_circ_0000119 promoted ovarian cancer development via enhancing the methylation of CDH13 by sponging miR-142-5p.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related death in women, and is difficult to treat. The aim of our study is to explore the role and action mechanism of hsa_circ_0000119 in ovarian cancer, thus to analyze whether the circular RNA is a potential target for the treatment of the disease. In this present study, our data shows that hsa_circ_0000119 and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) was increased, while miR-142-5p was decreased in ovarian cancer.

CircRNA hsa_circ_0001627 aggravates cervical cancer progression through upregulation of FNDC3B and activating PI3K/mTOR signaling pathway.

Circular RNAs (CircRNAs) are key regulators in the development and progression of human cancers. However, the biological roles and mechanisms of circRNAs in gastric cancer (GC) remain largely unknown. Analyzing circRNA microarray dataset (GSE102686) and clinical specimens, a novel circRNA termed hsa_circ_0001627, was identified and it was highly expressed in CC cancerous tissues and cells, and was associated with poor clinical outcomes.

Contrasting temperature effects on the velocity of early- versus late-stage vegetation green-up in the Northern Hemisphere.

Global vegetation greening has been widely confirmed in previous studies, yet the changes in the velocity of green-up in each month of green-up period (GUP) remains unclear. Here, we defined the velocity of vegetation green-up as V (the monthly increase of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index [NDVI] during GUP) and further explored its response to climate change in middle-high-latitude Northern Hemisphere. We found that in early GUP, V generally showed positive trends from 1982 to 2015, whereas in late GUP, it showed negative trends in most areas.

Switchable Adhesion on Curved Surfaces Mimicking the Coordination of Radial-Oriented Spatular Tips and Motion of Gecko Toes.

Bio-inspired structured adhesives have promising applications in many fields, like biomedicine, robotics, and aerospace. However, achieving robust and switchable adhesion in structured adhesives on non-planar surfaces remains highly challenging. Inspired by the gripping and rolling motions of gecko toes, a strong and switchable adhesive, which comprises a pillar array with radial-oriented spatular tips and is named as PROST, is developed.

Linc01133 promotes proliferation and metastasis of human renal cell carcinoma through sponging miR-760.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the most frequent human tumors and has brought great threats to the health of the people around the globe. It was reported that linc01133, a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), was involved in the pathogenesis and development of several human cancer. But the biological role of linc01133 in RCC is still not understood.