Impact of chronic ethanol consumption and SARS-COV-2 on the liver and intestine: A pilot dose-response study in mice.

Background: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, there was a marked increase in alcohol consumption. COVID-19 superimposed on underlying liver disease notably worsens the outcome of many forms of liver injury. The goal of a current pilot study was to test the dual exposure of alcohol and COVID-19 infection in an experimental animal model of alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD).

Early Warning Signals of the Tipping Point in Strongly Interacting Rydberg Atoms.

The identification of tipping points is essential for the prediction of collapses or other sudden changes in complex systems. Applications include studies of ecology, thermodynamics, climatology, and epidemiology. However, detecting early signs of proximity to a tipping is made challenging by complexity and nonlinearity.

A comprehensive investigation of the impact of cross-linker backbone structure on protein dynamics analysis: A case study with Pin1.

Understanding protein structure is essential for elucidating its function. Cross-linking mass spectrometry (XL-MS) has been widely recognized as a powerful tool for analyzing protein complex structures. However, the effect of cross-linker backbone structure on protein dynamic conformation analysis remains less understood.

Exosomal PVRL4 Promotes Lung Adenocarcinoma Progression by Enhancing the Generation of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cell-Secreted TGF-β1.

Background: The cancer cell marker poliovirus receptor-like protein 4 (PVRL4) has been shown to be highly expressed in many cancers, including lung cancer. Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a population of immature myeloid cells with immunosuppressive roles that can attenuate the anticancer response. Here, the precise functions and the relationship between PVRL4 and MDSCs in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) progression were investigated.

Correlation between triglyceride-glucose index and early neurological deterioration in patients with acute mild ischemic stroke.

Objective: The Triglyceride-glucose Index (TyG) index is a dependable metric for assessing the degree of insulin resistance, serving as a standalone predictor of ischemic stroke risk, but its precise relationship with early neurological deterioration (END) remains incompletely expounded within the context of acute mild ischemic stroke patients. This research is to examine the correlation of the TyG index with END among patients experiencing acute mild ischemic stroke in China.

Methods: This retrospective analysis was conducted to systematically gather data regarding patients experiencing their maiden episode of acute mild ischemic stroke and hospitalized at the Neurology Department of Nanjing Meishan Hospital, located in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, over the period extending from January 2020 to December 2022.

π-HuB: the proteomic navigator of the human body.

The human body contains trillions of cells, classified into specific cell types, with diverse morphologies and functions. In addition, cells of the same type can assume different states within an individual's body during their lifetime. Understanding the complexities of the proteome in the context of a human organism and its many potential states is a necessary requirement to understanding human biology, but these complexities can neither be predicted from the genome, nor have they been systematically measurable with available technologies.

Dominant Edaphic Controls on Particulate Organic Carbon in Global Soils.

The current soil carbon paradigm puts particulate organic carbon (POC) as one of the major components of soil organic carbon worldwide, highlighting its pivotal role in carbon mitigation. In this study, we compiled a global dataset of 3418 data points of POC concentration in soils and applied empirical modeling and machine learning algorithms to investigate the spatial variation in POC concentration and its controls. The global POC concentration in topsoil (0-30 cm) is estimated as 3.

Mn, N co-doped CDs as a fluorescent nanosensing platform for the detection of tannic acid and hafnium ion and in vitro fluorescence imaging of U2OS osteosarcoma cells.

Multi-wavelength emission fluorescent manganese-nitrogen co-doped carbon dots (Mn, N co-doped CDs) were synthesized by solvothermal method using β-cyclodextrin, O-phenylenediamine, and manganese chloride as raw materials. The prepared Mn, N co-doped CDs were used as fluorescent nanosensing platforms for the detection of metal ions and biomolecules and were found to be capable of fluorescence detection of tannic acid (TA) and hafnium (Hf) ion at 320, 380, and 480 nm excitation wavelengths with multi-response linear ranges of 0.7 ~ 1.

Associations of combined physical activity and dietary quality with all-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality among US adults with chronic kidney disease.

Background: There is a lack of sufficient information on the impact of physical activity (PA) and dietary quality (DQ) on mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and no study has yet examined the relationship between the combined effects of PA and DQ on the risk of death in patients with CKD in a representative adult population.

Methods: Adult CKD patients ( = 6,504) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2018 were included in the study. Mortality outcomes were assessed by National Death Index records before 2/25/2019.

Antimicrobial peptide Mt 5 inhibits human hepatocellular carcinoma cell HepG2 proliferation.

The Mt 5 peptide is an antimicrobial peptide, its effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its underlying mechanism is not understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of the Mt 5 peptide in a human HCC cell line, namely HepG2, in vitro. Notably, Mt 5 markedly reduced the growth of HepG2 cells by disrupting the cell membrane while exhibiting minimal toxicity to healthy liver cells.

One-Step Hydrothermal Synthesis of Glucose-Induced Low Crystallinity NiCo-Based Layered Double Hydroxides for High-Performance Asymmetric Supercapacitors.

In order to improve the electrochemical performance of NiCo-based layered double hydroxide (NiCoLDH), the synthesis of low-crystallinity NiCoLDH was induced by the adsorption of glucose and NiCoLDH. The results showed that glucose could not only effectively regulate the pore structure and morphology of NiCoLDH, but also had a regular effect on crystallinity. Pure phase NiCoLDH had higher crystallinity.

Cell membrane fusion composite lipid nanocarrier: preparation and evaluation of anti-tumor effects.

With the advancements in nanotechnology and biomaterials science, the development of nanodrug delivery systems (Nano-DDSs) has provided opportunities for the realization of precise targeted treatment of malignant tumors. Liposomes have become a type of DDS with early clinical application and mature development due to their excellent tissue-targeting capacity and outstanding biocompatibility. However, several obstacles remain, such as recognition and clearance by the immune system, a short half-life, and poor tumor targeting.

Tailored Ni(OH)/CuCo/Ni(OH) Composite Interfaces for Efficient and Durable Urea Oxidation Reaction.

Electrocatalytic urea oxidation reaction is a promising alternative to water oxidation for more efficient hydrogen production due to its significantly lower thermodynamic potential. However, achieving efficient electrochemical urea oxidation remains a formidable challenge, and development of an improved electrocatalyst with an optimal physicochemical and electronic structure toward urea oxidation is desired. This can be accomplished by designing a tailored two-dimensional composite with an abundance of active sites in a favorable electronic environment.

Single-Cell Secretome Profiling Enabled by Selective Enrichment and NanoLC-MS/MS Analysis.

Recent advances in single-cell proteomics enable the direct profiling of thousands of proteins from a single mammalian cell. However, due to the bottlenecks in detecting low-abundance secreted proteins and extracellular vesicle (EV) proteins (collectively referred to as the secretome) against a background of high-abundance proteins in serum-containing culture medium, the comprehensive investigation of the secretome at the single-cell level using nanoLC-MS/MS still remains challenging. Herein, we report a novel single-cell secretome profiling (SCSP) method by integrating the metabolic labeling of newly synthesized proteins, click chemistry-based enrichment, and in situ digestion of the labeled secretome in an alkyne-functionalized capillary micro-reactor, followed by nanoLC-MS/MS analysis.

Toward molecular diagnosis of major depressive disorder by plasma peptides using a deep learning approach.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe psychiatric disorder that currently lacks any objective diagnostic markers. Here, we develop a deep learning approach to discover the mass spectrometric features that can discriminate MDD patients from health controls. Using plasma peptides, the neural network, termed as CMS-Net, can perform diagnosis and prediction with an accuracy of 0.

Discovery of potential female-specific biomarkers for major depressive disorder by LC-MS-based metabolomics.

The prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is higher in females than males, emphasizing the need to identify gender-specific biomarkers to improve diagnosis accuracy. In this study, a cross-sectional investigation with 258 samples was conducted to evaluate the discriminative power of potential gender-specific biomarkers for MDD. Eighteen MDD-related differential metabolites have been identified, involving pathways of phospholipids, glycerolipids, fatty acids, sphingolipids, cholesterol, vitamin E, and heme.

Aldehyde-functionalization of chitin nanocrystals via SI-ARGET ATRP of lignin-derived monomers.

Chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs), prepared from a down-sizing process from chitin, have recently captured great attention to access sustainable nanomaterials. The surface modification of ChNCs is crucial to regulate the surface physicochemical properties and introduce specific functions, thus satisfying their diverse applications. In this study, aldehyde-functionalized ChNCs (ChNCs-PVMA) with enhanced hydrophobicity were developed via surface-initiated activators regenerated by electron transfer for atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ARGET ATRP) of a lignin-derived polymerizable aldehyde monomer, vanillin methacrylate (VMA).

Parental experiences of end-of-life decision making in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: A systematic review and qualitative data synthesis.

Objective: This systematic review and meta-synthesis aimed to explore the experiences of parents making end-of-life decisions in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Methods: We searched nine databases up to December 2023, including qualitative studies focused on parents' experiences with end-of-life decisions in NICU. Methodological quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool for qualitative research.

Impact of deep inspiration breath hold, surface-guided radiotherapy, and daily CBCT on the organs at risk in breast cancer radiotherapy.

The goal of the study was to assess the impact of deep inspiration breath hold technique (DIBH), surface-guided radiotherapy (SGRT), and daily kilovoltage cone-beam computed tomography (kV-CBCT) on the dose to organs at risk (OAR) in left-sided breast cancer radiotherapy. Twenty-six consecutive left-sided breast cancer patients treated using Volumetric Intensity Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT), DIBH, SGRT, and a hypofractionated regimen were retrospectively evaluated in this study. Dose parameters were extracted from dose-volume histograms (DVH).

One-Pot Fabrication of Copper-Doped WO·HO Opto-Functional Layered Device using Submerged Photosynthesis of Crystallites.

This study introduces a one-pot, submerged photosynthesis of crystallites (SPsC) method for fabricating monohydrate tungstic acid (WO·HO) nanoplates directly integrated onto a stainless steel mesh, offering a simplified production and enhanced device stability for optical functional applications. The fabricated devices demonstrate exceptional broadband light absorption across the ultraviolet (UV), visible (Vis), and near-infrared (NIR) ranges. Notably, 1% Cu doping significantly boosts the NIR absorption, yielding a high solar utilization efficiency of 81.