Proteomic analysis of spinal dorsal horn in prior exercise protection against neuropathic pain.

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a complex and prevalent chronic pain condition that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Previous studies have shown that prior exercise protects against NP caused by nerve injury. However, the underlying mechanisms of this protective effect remain to be uncovered.

The value of nonenhanced magnetic resonance imaging in the grading of primary lower extremity lymphedema.

Objective: The International Society of Lymphology proposed a grading standard for lymphedema in 2020 based on the percent increase in the volume of the affected limb compared to that of the healthy limb. However, this method is cumbersome and time consuming to measure and calculate, and a standardized formula across different institutions is not available. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the value of nonenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for grading primary lower extremity lymphedema (PLEL).

Transporter Expressions as Part of Required Scaling Factor to Support In vitro In vivo Extrapolation for Blood-Brain Barrier Drug Permeability.

Access of drugs to the central nervous system is limited by the blood-brain barrier, and this in turn affects drug efficacy/toxicity. To date, most drug discovery optimization paradigms have relied heavily on in vitro transporter assays and preclinical species pharmacokinetic evaluation to provide a qualitative assessment of human brain penetration. Because of the lack of human brain pharmacokinetic data, mechanistic models for preclinical species, combined with in vitro and in silico data, are useful for translation to human.

Changes in arthropod family richness, activity-density, biomass and body-size differed along a grazing intensity gradient: Modulation of plant traits and soil moisture conditions.

Arthropods play a critical role in the functioning of grassland ecosystems, and are largely affected by herbivore grazing. However, the mechanisms of grazing affecting arthropod community, especially through modulating plant traits and soil properties, are still unclear. We investigated the variation in arthropod community variables including family richness, activity-density, biomass, and body size in typical steppe grasslands subject to grazing at four intensity levels (nil, light, moderate and heavy) in central Inner Mongolia (China), and analyzed the relationships of these variations with grazing-induced changes in plant traits, plant community attributes and soil properties.

Identification of association between mitochondrial dysfunction and sarcopenia using summary-data-based Mendelian randomization and colocalization analyses.

Background: Mitochondrial dysfunction has been demonstrated to be an important hallmark of sarcopenia, yet its specific mechanism remains obscure. In this study, mitochondrial-related genes were used as instrumental variables to proxy for mitochondrial dysfunction, and summary data for sarcopenia-related traits were used as outcomes to examine their genetic association.

Methods: A total of 1,136 mitochondrial-related genes from the human MitoCarta3.

Membrane Proteins in Nanodiscs: Methods and Applications.

Membrane proteins, a principal class of drug targets, play indispensable roles in various biological processes and are closely associated with essential life functions. Their study, however, is complicated by their low solubility in aqueous environments and distinctive structural characteristics, necessitating a suitable native-like environment for molecular analysis. Nanodisc technology has revolutionized this field, providing biochemists with a powerful tool to stabilize membrane proteins and significantly enhance their research possibilities.

[Explanation and interpretation of blood transfusion provisions for children with hematological diseases in the national health standard "Guideline for pediatric transfusion"].

To guide clinical blood transfusion practices for pediatric patients, the National Health Commission has issued the health standard "Guideline for pediatric transfusion" (WS/T 795-2022). Blood transfusion is one of the most commonly used supportive treatments for children with hematological diseases. This guideline provides guidance and recommendations for blood transfusions in children with aplastic anemia, thalassemia, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, acute leukemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

PRDX2 induces tumor immune evasion by modulating the HDAC3-Galectin-9 axis in lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Background: PRDX2 is significantly expressed in various cancers and is associated with the proliferation of tumor cells. Nonetheless, the precise mechanism of PRDX2 in tumor immunity remains incompletely understood. This study aims to investigate the impact of PRDX2, which is highly expressed in lung adenocarcinoma, on T cells in the tumor immune microenvironment, and its immune action target to promote the immune escape of lung cancer cells, to provide a theoretical basis for lung adenocarcinoma treatment with PRDX2 as the target.

Therapeutic potential and pharmacological mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine in gout treatment.

Gout is a systemic metabolic disorder caused by elevated uric acid (UA) levels, affecting over 1% of the population. The most common complication of gout is gouty arthritis (GA), characterized by swelling, pain or tenderness in peripheral joints or bursae, which can lead to the formation of tophi. At present, western medicines like colchicine, febuxostat and allopurinol are the primary treatment strategy to alleviate pain and prevent flare-ups in patients with GA, but they have significant side effects and increased mortality risks.

Identification of Potential Intervention Targets Involved in Prior Exercise that Attenuates Peripheral Neuropathic Pain by Integrating Transcriptome and Whole-genome Bisulfite Sequencing Analyses.

Changes in DNA methylation and subsequent alterations in gene expression have opened a new direction in research related to the pathogenesis of peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP). This study aimed to reveal epigenetic perturbations underlying DNA methylation in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of rats with peripheral nerve injury in response to prior exercise and identify potential target genes involved. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups, namely, chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve, CCI with prior 6-week swimming training (CCI_Ex), and sham operated (Sham).

Inflammatory biomarkers profiles and cognition among older adults.

Inflammation plays a major role in cognitive aging. Most studies on peripheral inflammation and cognitive aging focused on selected major inflammatory biomarkers. However, inflammatory markers are regulated and influenced by each other, and it is therefore important to consider a more comprehensive panel of markers to better capture diverse immune pathways and characterize the overall inflammatory profile of individuals.

Dual intent view contrastive learning for knowledge aware recommender systems.

Knowledge-aware recommendation systems often face challenges owing to sparse supervision signals and redundant entity relations, which can diminish the advantages of utilizing knowledge graphs for enhancing recommendation performance. To tackle these challenges, we propose a novel recommendation model named Dual-Intent-View Contrastive Learning network (DIVCL), inspired by recent advancements in contrastive and intent learning. DIVCL employs a dual-view representation learning approach using Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), consisting of two distinct views: a local view based on the user-item interaction graph and a global view based on the user-item-entity knowledge graph.

Wet deposition of atmospheric Hg in a typical inland city in North China: Sources, influencing factors, and health risk assessment.

Understanding the composition of mercury (Hg) in the atmosphere is important for confirming its sources and to preventing and reduce the production. To explore the morphological distribution characteristics of wet Hg concentrations in Xi'an Shaanxi Province, China, total Hg (THg), dissolved Hg (DTHg), reactive Hg (RTHg) and particulate-bound Hg (PTHg) (Hg insoluble in water) were measured at 72 precipitation in Xi'an from September 2020 to July 2022, and their average concentrations were 3.035 ± 3.

Viral auxiliary roles in hydrolytic and biosynthetic metabolism regulate prokaryotic microbial interactions in anaerobic digestion.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) viruses have gained recognition as significant regulators of microbial interactions within AD communities, yet their ecological roles remain largely unexplored. In this study, we investigated the ecological roles of AD viruses in regulating microbial interactions among syntrophic hosts. We recovered 3921 diverse viral sequences from four full-scale anaerobic digesters and confirmed their widespread presence across 127 global metagenomic sampling sites (with >95 % sequence similarity), underscoring the ubiquity of prokaryotic viruses in AD-related systems.

Lactic acid/tartaric acid-maltitol antibacterial activity against spoilage bacteria and prevention of yellowing and wilting in spinach and oilseed rape.

The wilting and yellowing of leafy vegetables caused by spoilage bacteria resulted in serious resource wastage. This study investigated the efficacy of a combined lactic acid (LA) and tartaric acid (TA) treatment against four predominant spoilage bacteria (Erwinia persicina, Citrobacter freundii, Pseudomonas putida, and Pseudomonas punonensis) isolated from spinach and oilseed rape. Detailed analysis using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, flow cytometry, scanning electron microscopy, and light microscopy revealed substantial cellular damage in the bacteria treated by LA and TA, including loss of intracellular material, and collapse of cellular morphology, as well as effective biofilm removal.

An adversarial transformer for anomalous lamb wave pattern detection.

Lamb waves are widely used for defect detection in structural health monitoring, and various methods are developed for Lamb wave data analysis. This paper presents an unsupervised Adversarial Transformer model for anomalous Lamb wave pattern detection by analyzing the spatiotemporal images generated by a hybrid PZT-scanning laser Doppler vibrometer (SLDV). The model includes the global attention and the local attention mechanisms, and both are trained adversarially.

NiFe-based arrays with manganese dioxide enhance chloride blocking for durable alkaline seawater oxidation.

Seawater splitting is increasingly recognized as a promising technique for hydrogen production, while the lack of good electrocatalysts and detrimental chlorine chemistry may hinder further development of this technology. Here, the interfacial engineering of manganese dioxide nanoparticles decorated on NiFe layered double hydroxide supported on nickel foam (MnO@NiFe LDH/NF) is reported, which works as a robust catalyst for alkaline seawater oxidation. Density functional theory calculations and experiment findings reveal that MnO@NiFe LDH/NF can selectively enrich OH and repel Cl in oxygen evolution reaction (OER).

Habitat fragmentation increases the risk of local extinction of small reptiles: A case study on Phrynocephalus przewalskii.

Habitat fragmentation represents a multifaceted global conservation threat, exerting both direct and indirect effects on individual animals and communities. Reptiles, particularly smaller species with limited migratory abilities, are especially vulnerable to these changes. This study examines how small reptiles adapt their life history strategies in fragmented habitats and determines whether their responses are primarily due to phenotypic plasticity or genetic adaptation.

PROCERA interacts with JACKDAW in gibberellin-enhanced source-sink sucrose partitioning in tomato.

Proper regulation of the source-sink relationship is an effective way to increase crop yield. Gibberellin (GA) is an important regulator of plant growth and development, and physiological evidence has demonstrated that GA can promote source-sink sucrose partitioning. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear.

Scoliosis in adult Type 1 Chiari malformation with syringomyelia patients: from pathogenesis to treatment.

The pathogenesis of type I Chiari malformation (CIM) is complex and remains unclear. The theory of posterior cranial fossa incompatibility has gained widespread acceptance in recent years. In the patients with CIM combined with syringomyelia, scoliosis is a common occurrence, with severe cases often leading to complications that necessitate surgical intervention.

Risk factors and prediction model for sub-threshold depression in young and middle-aged breast cancer patients.

Objective: To explore the current status of subthreshold depression in young and middle-aged breast cancer patients and its influencing factors, in order to guide early identification and intervention in clinical settings.

Methods: The study included 385 young and middle-aged cancer patients treated at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from June 2023 to June 2024. Standardized scales were used to evaluate sub-threshold depression, psychological resilience, and self-perceived burden.

Plasma exchange alone versus combination with intravenous immunoglobulin/methylprednisolone pulse therapy in severe systemic rheumatic diseases: a retrospective study.

Background: For severe systemic rheumatic diseases (SRDs), therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) may be applied as a rescue therapy; it usually combined with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) or intravenous methylprednisolone pulse (IVMP) in severe SRDs. However, the necessity of this combination treatment strategy in SRDs remains uncertain.

Objective: This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of TPE alone versus TPE combined with IVIG/IVMP in treating severe SRDs.

Revealing the CO adsorption blocking mechanism in flexible low-silica small-pore zeolites three-dimensional electron diffraction.

Low-silica small-pore zeolites are essential for CO selective adsorption; however, some Na-form flexible types exhibit negligible performance. Advanced three-dimensional electron diffraction elucidated the blocking mechanism: Na ions in elliptical 8-rings hinder CO diffusion. Structural insights guided the design of K-form types with wider 8-rings, achieving enhanced CO adsorption.

Methods and Practical Considerations for Conducting Budget Impact Analysis for Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions.

Background: Health technology assessment (HTA) can be conducted at the national, provincial, or hospital level. Although provincial and hospital-based HTAs often focus on non-pharmaceutical interventions, budget impact analysis (BIA) methods for non-pharmaceutical interventions have received less attention in the literature.

Methods: We reviewed HTAs of non-pharmaceutical interventions published since 2015 by a Canadian provincial HTA agency, evaluating the characteristics and challenges of conducting a BIA.

Control of water for high-yield and low-cost sustainable electrochemical synthesis of uniform monolayer graphene oxide.

With the rapid development of graphene industry, low-cost sustainable synthesis of monolayer graphene oxide (GO) has become more and more important for many applications such as water desalination, thermal management, energy storage and functional composites. Compared to the conventional chemical oxidation methods, water electrolytic oxidation of graphite-intercalation-compound (GIC) shows significant advantages in environmental-friendliness, safety and efficiency, but suffers from non-uniform oxidation, typically ~50 wt.% yield with ~50% monolayers.