Publications by authors named "Feng Z"

Article Synopsis
  • The complement and coagulation systems are key parts of the immune response and balance blood flow, but their overactivation can lead to diseases, especially during critical illnesses like sepsis.
  • Sepsis reveals complex interactions between inflammation, coagulation, and the complement system, indicating a need for more research to fully understand these relationships.
  • Recent findings suggest that targeting the interactions between the coagulation and complement systems could lead to new immunomodulatory therapies to better treat sepsis and related infections.
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Background: Multiple Chronic Diseases (MCD) are the co-occurrence of two or more chronic conditions within an individual. Compared to patients with a single chronic disease, those with MCD face challenges related to polypharmacy, which increases the risk of adverse drug events, side effects, and drug-drug interactions. Understanding the specific medication preferences of patients with MCD is crucial to optimize treatment plans and enhance treatment safety.

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Background: In basketball training, self-evaluation plays a crucial role in the decision-making and execution of movements of players. The self-evaluation of players is influenced by their perception of own basketball ability and self-confidence state. This study aimed to explore potential discrepancies between self-confidence levels of players and their decision-making performance, while also characterizing different types of players.

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Integrating abundant dual sites of hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) into one catalyst is extremely urgent toward energy-saving H production. Herein, CoSe-NiSe heterostructure coupling with TiCT MXene (CoSe-NiSe/MXene) is fabricated on nickel foam (NF) to enhance the catalytic performance. The heterogeneous CoSe-NiSe and MXene coupling effect can change the coordination of Ni and Co, resulting in adjusted interfacial electronic field and enhanced electron transfer from NiSe to CoSe especially near MXene surface.

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African Swine Fever (ASF) is an acute, highly contagious, and lethal disease caused by the African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV), posing a severe threat to the global pig farming industry. Although live vaccines are currently available, preventing and controlling ASF remains a considerable challenge. Several factors have impeded vaccine development, including the complexity of ASFV particles and the suppressive effects of its gene-encoded proteins on the host's immune system.

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It has been confirmed that bee venom (BV) can inhibit tumor metastasis of lung cancer cells induced by epidermal growth factor, suggesting the inhibitory role of BV on the regulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and may synergistically promote the anti-lung cancer effect of EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib. This paper aims to ascertain the therapeutic potentials of BV combined with gefitinib against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in vitro. As results, the content of the main component melittin in air-dried BV was determined by HPLC.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers found ferroelectric properties in metal-insulator-metal structures using amorphous dielectrics, suggesting potential for new ferroelectric devices.
  • The study investigates the role of oxygen ions and charged vacancies in creating these properties, focusing on their origin, transport behaviors, and how dielectric thickness affects performance.
  • The experimental results provide insights into the mechanisms behind these behaviors, laying the groundwork for future advancements in amorphous oxide-based devices.
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Background: Schizophrenia is a debilitating mental disorder affecting about 1% of the global population, characterized by significant cognitive impairments and a strong hereditary component. Carnitine, particularly Levo-carnitine and its derivatives, plays a crucial role in cellular metabolism and mitochondrial function, with evidence suggesting a link between levo-carnitine deficiency and schizophrenia pathology. This study aims to investigate the causal relationship between different subtypes of levo-carnitine and the susceptibility to schizophrenia using Mendelian randomization analysis.

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How organisms respond to complex environments is one of the unsolved problems in ecology. Life history patterns of a species provide essential information on how different populations may respond and adapt to environmental changes. Compared to typical seasonal breeders, which have limited distributions, the worldwide distribution of brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) across highly complex and divergent habitats suggests they exhibit exceptional adaptiveness.

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Background: The social culture, gender stereotypes, and social status of nursing in China impact the professional commitment of male nursing students. Increasing the professional commitment of male nursing students is critical for alleviating the shortage of nurses and addressing the gender gap. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread public concern about the nursing profession and may have changed people's perception of the profession, which in turn may have a positive impact on the professional commitment of male nursing students in China.

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Background: Pleckstrin homology containing family A, number 4 (PLEKHA4) plays a role in a number of biological processes in human cells, including cell polarization, growth, and proliferation. However, the relationship between PLEKHA4 expression and survival in breast cancer (BC) remains unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of PLEKHA4 as a prognostic indicator in BC.

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Cancer immunotherapy has significant potential as a cancer treatment since it boosts the immune system and prevents immune escape to get rid of or fight cancers. However, its clinical applicability is still limited because of the low response rate and immune-related side effects. Recently ultrasound has been shown to alter the tumor immune microenvironment, enhance the effectiveness of other antitumor therapies, and cause tumors to become more sensitive to immunotherapy, thus providing new insights into cancer treatment.

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Background: The cotton whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is a major global pest, causing significant crop damage through viral infestation and feeding. Traditional B. tabaci recognition relies on human eyes, which requires a large amount of work and high labor costs.

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The MECOM locus is a gene frequently amplified in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma (HGSOC). Nevertheless, the body of research examining the associations among MECOM transcripts, patient prognosis, and their role in modulating the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) remains sparse, particularly in large cohorts. This study assessed the expression of MECOM transcripts in 352 HGSOC patients and 88 normal ovarian tissues from the combined GTEx/TCGA database.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the associated production of Higgs and W bosons, focusing on how the relative signs of the Higgs couplings to W and Z bosons impact the process.
  • Two specific searches were conducted using large amounts of collision data from the LHC to analyze different coupling scenarios: one for opposite-sign couplings and another for same-sign (standard model-like) couplings.
  • The results significantly exclude the opposite-sign coupling hypothesis and set a strict upper limit on the production rate of this process compared to standard model predictions.
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To obtain accurate brain source activities, the highly ill-posed source imaging of electro- and magneto-encephalography (E/MEG) requires proficiency in incorporation of biophysiological constraints and signal-processing techniques. Here, we propose a spatio-temporal-constrained E/MEG source imaging framework-STARTS that can reconstruct the source in a fully automatic way. Specifically, a block-diagonal covariance is adopted to reconstruct the source extents while maintain spatial homogeneity.

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Article Synopsis
  • - A one-pot green synthesis method created urease-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers (UE-HNFs) that enhance enzyme efficiency and reusability due to their high surface-to-volume ratio.
  • - A portable colorimetric microliter tube sensor (UE-HNFs-PCMT) was developed to measure urea levels in milk, using a smartphone to capture color changes during the reaction.
  • - The sensor shows a strong correlation between the color intensity and urea concentration (43-600 mg/L) with a detection limit of 12.81 mg/L, and it features easy operation, low cost, and environmental benefits.
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Background: Retz, known as the King of Tibet, is considered a functional food in China, celebrated for its antioxidant, immune-modulating, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties. Chebulinic acid, derived from aqueous extracts of Retz, is known for its anti-inflammatory properties. However, its potential as an anti- (HP) agent has not been fully explored.

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Introduction: Steamed bread (SB) is a daily food in many countries in the world, but the relationship between HMW-GS and the quality of SB remain unclear.

Methods: This study investigated the effects of 12 subunit combinations on the characteristics of SB, including volume, physical properties, and sensory evaluation, combined with the microstructure and dough rheological properties.

Results: The locus effect results showed, volume and physical properties of SB were >>, while sensory scores >>.

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Aims: The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis has necessitated novel treatments like the pretomanid, bedaquiline and linezolid (BPaL) regimen. This study investigated the association of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) with the BPaL regimen compared to first-line antituberculosis drugs (isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol [HRZE]).

Methods: A retrospective pharmacovigilance analysis was conducted using data from the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System database from July 2019 to June 2023.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes are being explored for cancer theranostics, combining diagnostic imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT) through singlet oxygen generation.
  • The study presents five new iridium(III) complexes, designed with different side-chain lengths to reduce unwanted molecular movements that interfere with their light emission and oxygen production.
  • Among these, IrC8 shows the best potential for use in image-guided PDT in lab models, marking a significant advancement in the effectiveness of these complexes for clinical applications.
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BRAF pediatric low-grade gliomas frequently transform into high-grade gliomas (HGG) and poorly respond to chemotherapy, resulting in high mortality. Although combined BRAF and MEK inhibition (BRAFi+MEKi) outperforms chemotherapy, ∼70% of BRAF HGG patients are therapy resistant and undergo unbridled tumor progression. BRAF glioma have an immune-rich microenvironment suggesting that they could be responsive to immunotherapy but effects of BRAFi+MEKi on anti-tumor immunity are unclear.

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