Exploring the Causal Relationship Between the Plasma Levels of MMP1 (Matrix Metalloproteinase-1), MMP3, MMP7, MMP10, and MMP12 and Intervertebral Disc Degeneration: Mendelian Randomization.

Background: Several matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been reported to be associated with intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) in several previous studies. However, the causal relationship between MMPs and IDD remains unclear. In this study, Mendelian randomization (MR) was used to analyze the causal relationship between the plasma levels of multiple MMPs and the risk of IDD.

Different temperatures leakage mechanisms of (AlO)(HfO) gate Dielectrics deposited by atomic layer deposition.

(AlO)(HfO) films with varying compositions were deposited on silicon substrates via plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), and metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors were fabricated. The impact of varying induced Al content on the dielectric properties of HfO was examined through electrical measurements. The results showed that increasing Al content raised the flat-band voltage, reduced the interface state density (D), and significantly lowered the leakage current at a given voltage.

Gestational diabetes mellitus causes genome hyper-methylation of oocyte via increased EZH2.

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), a common pregnancy disease, has long-term negative effects on offspring health. Epigenetic changes may have important contributions to that, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we report the influence of GDM on DNA methylation of offspring (GDF1) oocytes and the possible mechanisms.

The optimal dose of intravenous tranexamic acid for reducing blood loss in spinal surgery: a network meta-analysis.

Background: This study aims to evaluate the optimal dose of intravenous tranexamic acid (TXA) for reducing blood loss in spinal surgery.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library database from inception until November 2023. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) incorporating diverse TXA dosing regimens for spinal surgery were included.

In-Situ Grafting Strategy Enables Functional Separator for Advanced Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

A functional separator is developed by in-situ grafting nickel tetraaminophthalocyanine (NiTAPc) onto the surface of polypropylene (PP). It is applied to inhibit the shuttle effect of polysulfides (PSs) in lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries. The characterization results showed that NiTAPc is highly dispersed and uniformly grafted onto PP separator.

Maternal obesity may disrupt offspring metabolism by inducing oocyte genome hyper-methylation via increased DNMTs.

Maternal obesity has deleterious effects on the process of establishing oocyte DNA methylation; yet the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we found that maternal obesity disrupted the genomic methylation of oocytes using a high-fat diet (HFD) induced mouse model, at least a part of which was transmitted to the F2 oocytes and livers via females. We further examined the metabolome of serum and found that the serum concentration of melatonin was reduced.

Percutaneous spinal cord stimulation cylindrical lead placement for managing refractory neuropathic pain: A case series with an endoscopic-assisted approach.

Background: The paddle lead (PL) and cylindrical lead (CL) remain the main implant categories in spinal cord stimulation (SCS) for treating neuropathic pain. Surgeons often complain about the greater trauma associated with PL implantation, while percutaneous endoscopic technique offers a promising approach for minimizing the trauma associated to PL implantation. However, there remains a dearth of real-world case study on endoscopy-assisted CL implantation.

Identification of inflammation related gene signatures for bladder cancer prognosis prediction.

Early diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer are crucial, and since inflammation plays a role in all stages of bladder cancer, this study aims to develop a model based on inflammation-related genes to accurately predict patient prognosis. The data were initially processed through differential analysis and prognostic correlation analysis, then a Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model was constructed by M-cohort and a nomogram was designed to increase the model readability. The T-cohort was used for internal validation, with the GSE32894 and Imvigor210 cohorts used as external data to verify the model's accuracy.

What can be observed in intervertebral cartilage endplate with aging? An animal model study of excessive axial mechanical loading.

Introduction: The cartilage endplate (CEP) plays a crucial role as both a mechanical barrier and nutrient channel for the intervertebral disc, but it is vulnerable to excessive axial loading. We modified the Ilizarov external fixator and applied it to the CEP of the rat tail to impose diurnal, controllable excess axial loading. The objective was to measure morphological changes in the CEP when subjected to loading during the aging process.

Thermophilic lignin-based laccase nanozyme with CuN center for the detection of epinephrine and degradation of phenolic pollutants.

Natural laccases are a family of multi‑copper oxidases that can oxidize multiple phenol substrates and of great importance to contaminant remediation and biosensing. However, the construction of substitutes for the expensive and perishable laccase used in harsh conditions remains a great challenge. Here, we reported a novel strategy for the fabrication of copper-doped lignin-based laccase nanozymes (Cu-AL) through the coordination of aminated lignin and different copper sources.

Hemolytic Transfusion Reactions Due to Le and Le Antibodies.

A 20-year-old pregnant woman at 12 week gestation with a history of thalassemia was admitted to the hospital with Hb 60g/L. She received two transfusions of 2 units of negative crossmatched washed red blood cells (RBCs) each, but shortly after she experienced a transfusion reaction. Symptoms included chest tightness, dyspnea, chills, and soy sauce colored urine.

The novel immune landscape of immune-checkpoint blockade in EBV-associated malignancies.

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a ubiquitous gamma-herpesvirus and a class 1 carcinogen that is closely associated with a series of malignant lymphomas and epithelial cell carcinomas. Although these EBV-related cancers may exhibit different features in clinical symptoms and anatomical sites, they all have a characteristic immune-suppressed tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) that is tightly correlated with an abundance of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) that primarily result from the EBV infection. Overwhelming evidence indicates that an upregulation of immune-checkpoint molecules is a powerful strategy employed by the EBV to escape immune surveillance.

Manipulating Intramolecular Charge Transfer in Terpyridine Derivatives Towards "Turn-On" Fluorescence Chemosensors for Zn.

A series of donor-acceptor (D-A) terpyridine derivatives with various intramolecular charge transfer interactions have been successfully synthesized bearing phenyl, methoxyphenyl, N-butyldiphenylamine (DPA), and triphenylamine (TPA) as electron-donors and terpyridine (TPY), 2,6-di(pyrazin-2-yl)pyridine (PYDPZ), and N,N-dimethylated PYDPZ (PYDPZ-2CH) as electron acceptors. Upon the introduction of pyrazine rings instead of pyridine ones and further selective N,N'-dimethylation, the intramolecular D-A interactions are significantly enhanced, resulting in the remarkable reduced intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) transitions and quenched PL emissions in CHCl solution. However, their ICT emissions are clearly recovered upon adding Zn.

Flavonoids of Euphorbia hirta inhibit inflammatory mechanisms via Nrf2 and NF-κB pathways.

Euphorbia hirta has anti-inflammatory effects in traditional medicine, but its anti-inflammatory mechanism has not been explored at the cellular and molecular levels. To unravel these mechanisms, the main active components in the 65 and 95% ethanol extracts of Euphorbia hirta were first identified by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. Subsequently, potential anti-inflammatory targets and signaling pathways were predicted using network pharmacology and experimentally validated using RT-PCR and flow cytometry in a lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation model of RAW264.

Novel Ratiometric Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) Biosensor for Ultrasensitive Quantitative Monitoring of Human Carboxylesterase-1 in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells Using Ag-Au Nanoflowers as SERS Substrate.

In this study, we developed ratiometric surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) biosensors using Ag-Au alloy nanoflowers as SERS substrates, molecules having amide bonds and alkyne groups (Tag A) as Raman reporters, and sodium thiocyanate as an internal standard molecule (Tag B) for the sensitive detection of human carboxylesterase-1 (hCE1) in HepG-2 cells. The correlation between HepG-2 cell damage and hCE1 activity levels was investigated. Both Tag A's alkyne group and Tag B's cyanide group produced characteristic SERS signals in the Raman-silent region ( and , respectively).

Ly6E on tumor cells impairs anti-tumor T-cell responses: a novel mechanism of tumor-induced immune exclusion.

Background: Lymphocyte antigen 6 complex, locus E (Ly6E) has been initially demonstrated to involve in T cell activity and impair viral infectivity. Recently, high expression levels of Ly6E have been reported in tumor microenvironment (TME) of various types of cancers. However, the immunoregulatory mechanism of Ly6E manipulating TME remains unknown.

Radical alkylation of acrylamides with peroxides to access mono/dialkylated fused N-heterocycles.

A simple mono/dialkylation of acrylamide derivatives was achieved, affording diverse mono/dialkylated benzo[4,5]imidazo[2,1-]isoquinolines or polycyclic coumarins with good substrate scope. This system used common peroxides as alkylating reagents. Meanwhile, a series of scaled-up reactions and mechanistic explorations well demonstrated the application and reaction process of this cascade system.

Screening and identification of microRNAs mediating cartilage endplate degeneration in human intervertebral disks.

Objective: This study aimed to discover micro-ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) involved in the degeneration of cartilage endplates through next-generation sequencing and lay the foundation for further research.

Methods: The cartilage endplate was obtained from patients who underwent interbody fusion surgery at the Department of Spine Surgery, Shanghai East Hospital Affiliated to Tongji University, from 1 January 2020 to 1 January 2023. Total RNA was extracted from the cartilage endplate tissue.

Sarcopenia predicts immune-related adverse events due to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy in patients with advanced lung cancer.

Introduction: Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized the treatment of a number of patients with advanced cancer, and while this has resulted in increased survival times, it has also led to the emergence of novel immune-related adverse events (irAEs). In individuals with advanced cancer, sarcopenia is a significant symptom of cachexia and is linked to poor nutritional status and increased mortality. The present study aimed to evaluate sarcopenia and other risk variables that can affect the emergence of irAEs in patients with lung cancer.

YOLO-CFruit: a robust object detection method for fruit in complex environments.

Introduction: In the field of agriculture, automated harvesting of fruit has become an important research area. However, accurately detecting fruit in a natural environment is a challenging task. The task of accurately detecting fruit in natural environments is complex due to factors such as shadows, which can impede the performance of traditional detection techniques, highlighting the need for more robust methods.

3-Methylthiophene: A Sustainable Solvent for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells.

The use of harmful halogenated or aromatic solvents such as chloroform (CF), chlorobenzene (CB), and -xylene (-XY) is one of the greatest barriers to the industrial-scale manufacturing of high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs). Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate the effects of these solvents to ensure practical feasibility of OSCs. We found that the anthracene-terminated polymer donor and small-molecule acceptor BO-4Cl had good solubility in 3-methylthiophene (3-MeT).

Controlling and Tuning the Dispersion Properties of Calcined Kaolinite Particles in Various Organic Solvents via the Modification Method Using Triethoxyvinylsilane and 3-Mercaptopropionic Acid.

The surface of calcined kaolinite particles underwent chemical modification using Vinyltriethoxysilane (VTMS) and 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA). The grafting ratio of VTMS on the calcined kaolinite surface was adjusted by varying its quantity. FT-IR analysis revealed the initial grafting of VTMS onto the kaolinite surface, resulting in the formation of a C=C reactive site on the surface.

Au/Ag@ZIF-8 nanocomposite as solid phase extraction adsorbent and SERS substrate for tacrolimus label-free therapeutic drug monitoring in human serum.

Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) has been extensively utilized in therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) due to its rapid detection speed, high sensitivity and straightforward sample pretreatment. In this study, Au/AgNPs were obtained through the reduction of AgNO on the surface of AuNPs. Subsequently, Au/AgNPs were embedded into the tetrahedral lattice of ZIF-8 MOFs, resulting in the formation of Au/Ag@ZIF-8 nanocomposites.