Genistin: A Novel Estrogen Analogue Targeting ERβ to Alleviate Thrombocytopenia.

Thrombocytopenia, a prevalent hematologic challenge, correlates directly with the mortality of numerous ailments. Current therapeutic avenues for thrombocytopenia are not without limitations. Here, we identify genistin, an estrogen analogue, as a promising candidate for thrombocytopenia intervention, discovered through AI-driven compound library screening.

Activating SRC/MAPK signaling via 5-HT1A receptor contributes to the effect of vilazodone on improving thrombocytopenia.

Thrombocytopenia caused by long-term radiotherapy and chemotherapy exists in cancer treatment. Previous research demonstrates that 5-Hydroxtrayptamine (5-HT) and its receptors induce the formation of megakaryocytes (MKs) and platelets. However, the relationships between 5-HT1A receptor (5-HTR1A) and MKs is unclear so far.

Alnustone promotes megakaryocyte differentiation and platelet production via the interleukin-17A/interleukin-17A receptor/Src/RAC1/MEK/ERK signaling pathway.

Objectives: Thrombocytopenia is a disease in which the number of platelets in the peripheral blood decreases. It can be caused by multiple genetic factors, and numerous challenges are associated with its treatment. In this study, the effects of alnustone on megakaryocytes and platelets were investigated, with the aim of developing a new therapeutic approach for thrombocytopenia.

Controlling coherent perfect absorption via long-range connectivity of defects in three-dimensional zero-index media.

Coherent perfect absorption (CPA), as time-reversed lasing, arises from appropriate wave interference within absorbers, offering flexible control over wave absorption. Typically, this control involves tuning the phase difference between two counter-propagating incident beams. Here, we elucidate the critical role of defect connectivity within three-dimensional zero-index media for realizing and controlling CPA.

Identification and cultivation of anaerobic bacterial scavengers of dead cells.

The cycle of life and death and Earth's carbon cycle(s) are intimately linked, yet how bacterial cells, one of the largest pools of biomass on Earth, are recycled back into the carbon cycle remains enigmatic. In particular, no bacteria capable of scavenging dead cells in oxygen-depleted environments have been reported thus far. In this study, we discover the first anaerobes that scavenge dead cells and the two isolated strains use distinct strategies.

Xanthotoxin, a novel inducer of platelet formation, promotes thrombocytopoiesis via IL-1R1 and MEK/ERK signaling.

Background: Thrombocytopenia is a common hematological disease caused by many factors. It usually complicates critical diseases and increases morbidity and mortality. The treatment of thrombocytopenia remains a great challenge in clinical practice, however, its treatment options are limited.

Is the government's direct subsidy to COVID-19 effective?

With the outbreak of COVID-19, governments worldwide have provided direct subsidies to enterprises. This paper aims to identify the motivation behind these subsidies and evaluate their impact. Previous studies have overlooked the discussion of subsidy motivation, and there is still a wide divergence of views among scholars on whether subsidies have a positive effect on firm performance.

The origin and evolution of methanogenesis and are intertwined.

Methanogenesis has been widely accepted as an ancient metabolism, but the precise evolutionary trajectory remains hotly debated. Disparate theories exist regarding its emergence time, ancestral form, and relationship with homologous metabolisms. Here, we report the phylogenies of anabolism-involved proteins responsible for cofactor biosynthesis, providing new evidence for the antiquity of methanogenesis.

Targeting a thrombopoietin-independent strategy in the discovery of a novel inducer of megakaryocytopoiesis, DMAG, for the treatment of thrombocytopenia.

Thrombocytopenia is a thrombopoietin (TPO)-related disorder with very limited treatment options, and can be lifethreatening. There are major problems with typical thrombopoietic agents targeting TPO signaling, so it is urgent to discover a novel TPO-independent mechanism involving thrombopoiesis and potential druggable targets. We developed a drug screening model by the multi-grained cascade forest (gcForest) algorithm and found that 3,8-di-O-methylellagic acid 2- O-glucoside (DMAG) (10, 20 and 40 μM) promoted megakaryocyte differentiation in vitro.

Regional convergence analysis of sustainable innovation efficiency in European Union countries.

Sustainable innovation strategies have been taken very seriously by the European Union (EU), which aims to reduce energy consumption and environmental pollutants emissions. For the sake of testing the sustainable performance of EU countries empirically, this research evaluates the sustainable innovation efficiency (SIE) of EU countries through a DEA-SBM model and analyzes the convergence trends of the EU regions by convergence analysis. The results show that the EU has attached great importance to sustainable innovation efficiency, indicating that the EU makes a concerted effort in technological innovation, energy saving, and environmental protection.

Meta-Omics-Supervised Characterization of Respiration Activities Associated with Microbial Immigrants in Anaerobic Sludge Digesters.

Immigration has been recently recognized as an important ecological process that affects the microbial community structure in diverse ecosystems. However, the fate of microbial immigrants in the new environment and their involvement in the local biochemical network remain unclear. In this study, we performed meta-omics-supervised characterization of immigrants' activities in anaerobic sludge digesters.

Ecogenomics-Based Mass Balance Model Reveals the Effects of Fermentation Conditions on Microbial Activity.

Fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) is an alternative approach to reduce solid wastes while providing valuable soluble products, such as volatile fatty acids and alcohols. This study systematically identified optimal fermentation conditions and key microbial populations by conducting two sets of experiments under different combinations of biochemical and physical parameters. Based on fermentation product concentrations, methane production, and solid removal, fermentation performance was enhanced under the combined treatments of inoculum heat shock (>60°C), pH 5, 55°C, and short solid retention time (<10 days).

Metagenomic and Metatranscriptomic Analyses Revealed Uncultured Bacteroidales Populations as the Dominant Proteolytic Amino Acid Degraders in Anaerobic Digesters.

Current understanding of amino acid (AA) degraders in anaerobic digesters is mainly based on cultured species, whereas microorganisms that play important roles in a complex microbial community remain poorly characterized. This study investigated short-term enrichments degrading single AAs using metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. Metagenomic analysis revealed that populations related to cultured AA degraders had an abundance <2.

Catabolism and interactions of uncultured organisms shaped by eco-thermodynamics in methanogenic bioprocesses.

Background: Current understanding of the carbon cycle in methanogenic environments involves trophic interactions such as interspecies H transfer between organotrophs and methanogens. However, many metabolic processes are thermodynamically sensitive to H accumulation and can be inhibited by H produced from co-occurring metabolisms. Strategies for driving thermodynamically competing metabolisms in methanogenic environments remain unexplored.

Superior resolution characterisation of microbial diversity in anaerobic digesters using full-length 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.

In the past decade, the characterisation of the microbial community in anaerobic digestion was primarily done by using high-throughput short-read amplicon sequencing. However, the short-read approach has inherent primer bias and low phylogenetic resolution. Our previous study using Illumina MiSeq suggested that the heterogeneity of AD microbiome was operation-driven.

Modified Voronoi Analysis of Spontaneous Formation of Interfacial Droplets on Immersed Oil-Solid Substrates.

The nucleation and growth of liquid droplets on solid substrates have received much attention because of the significant relevance of these multiphase processes to both nature and practical applications. There have been extensive studies on the condensation of water from the air phase on solid substrates. Here, we focus on water diffusion through the oil phase and subsequent settlement on solid substrates because such interfacial droplets are formed.

Machine learning-aided analyses of thousands of draft genomes reveal specific features of activated sludge processes.

Background: Microorganisms in activated sludge (AS) play key roles in the wastewater treatment processes. However, their ecological behaviors and differences from microorganisms in other environments have mainly been studied using the 16S rRNA gene that may not truly represent in situ functions.

Results: Here, we present 2045 archaeal and bacterial metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) recovered from 1.

Identifying anaerobic amino acids degraders through the comparison of short-term and long-term enrichments.

Degradation of amino acids is an important process in methanogenic environments. Early studies in the 1980s focused on isolated clostridia species to study the degradation behaviours. However, it is now well-recognized that isolated species may not represent those with important roles in situ.

Internet use and individuals' environmental quality evaluation: Evidence from China.

Identifying factors that influence the public's environmental quality perception is conducive to environmental protection and risk management. By employing data from the Chinese Social Survey (CGSS) and the ordinary least squares (OLS) method, the present study aims to explore the associations between Internet use and Chinese residents' environmental quality evaluation. The results show that, compared with non-netizens, netizens have a higher negative evaluation of environmental quality, which supports the negativity bias theory, namely, that netizens pay more attention to negative news related to environmental pollution on the Internet.

Bacterial enrichment in highly-selective acetate-fed bioreactors and its application in rapid biofilm formation.

In this study, we systematically investigated the bacterial community dynamics in highly-selective (strong hydraulic selection pressure and high organic loading rate) bioreactors with acetate as the sole carbon source. 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing and metagenomic sequencing results showed that phenolics-degrading bacteria (PDB), which were mainly Acinetobacter species, in the newly-formed aerobic granules could account for >70% of the total bacteria. Near full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained by cloning suggest that the PDB are potentially novel species because they are distantly related to known Acinetobacter species.

Quantifying the contribution of microbial immigration in engineered water systems.

Immigration is a process that can influence the assembly of microbial communities in natural and engineered environments. However, it remains challenging to quantitatively evaluate the contribution of this process to the microbial diversity and function in the receiving ecosystems. Currently used methods, i.

Nexus of Stochastic and Deterministic Processes on Microbial Community Assembly in Biological Systems.

Microbial community assembly in engineered biological systems is often simultaneously influenced by stochastic and deterministic processes, and the nexus of these two mechanisms remains to be further investigated. Here, three lab-scale activated sludge reactors were seeded with identical inoculum and operated in parallel under eight different sludge retention time (SRT) by sequentially reducing the SRT from 15 days to 1 day. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data, the microbial populations at the start-up (15-day SRT) and SRT-driven (≤10-day SRT) phases were observed to be noticeably different.

Molecular microbial ecology of stable versus failing rice straw anaerobic digesters.

Waste rice straw (RS) is generated in massive quantities around the world and is often burned, creating greenhouse gas and air quality problems. Anaerobic digestion (AD) may be a better option for RS management, but RS is presumed to be comparatively refractory under anaerobic conditions without pre-treatment or co-substrates. However, this presumption assumes frequent reactor feeding regimes but less frequent feeding may be better for RS due to slow hydrolysis rates.