The Impacts of Volcanic Activity on Microbial Growth-A Simulation Experiment in the Qiliao Section in Shizhu County, Chongqing, China.

The impact of volcanic activity on microorganisms has always been a hot topic of discussion during geological history. Further studies are needed on the effects of volcanic activity on microbial growth in shale and the differences in nutrients provided by volcanic ash and other weathered rocks. This study's results indicated that TOC contents at the bottom of the shale layer are 1.

Semantic and syntactic processing of emojis in sentential intermediate positions.

The current study investigated the neuro mechanisms of emoji processing as sentence predicate in written context. In the hybrid textuality which is more cognitively engaging, emojis in sentential intermediate positions were designed as either congruent or incongruent to the context. The results showed that incongruent words led to a robust N400 effect, while incongruent emojis only elicited the P600 effect.

Ethyl pyruvate alleviates pulmonary arterial hypertension via PI3K-Akt signaling.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a pathophysiological syndrome that is extremely difficult to manage, and there is currently no effective treatment. We want to elucidate the therapeutic effect of ethyl pyruvate (EP) on PAH and its possible mechanism. Pulmonary artery endothelial cells (PAECs) were cultured in conventional low-oxygen environments, and cellular proliferation was monitored after treatment with EP.

How to achieve adequate quenching for DBP analysis in drinking water?

Quenching is an important step to terminate disinfection during preparation of disinfected water samples for the analysis of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). However, an incomplete quenching might result in continued reactions of residual chlorine, whereas an excessive quenching might decompose target DBPs. Therefore, an adequate quenching to achieve simultaneous disinfection termination and DBP preservation is of particular importance.

Ultrasound-mediated HGF Gene Microbubbles Mitigate Hyperkinetic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Rabbits.

Aim: Hyperkinetic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a complication of congenital heart disease. Gene therapy is a new experimental treatment for PAH, and ultrasound-mediated gene-carrying microbubble targeted delivery is a promising development for gene transfer.

Methods: This study successfully established a hyperkinetic PAH rabbit model by a common carotid artery and jugular vein shunt using the cuff style method.

Liverwort bHLH transcription factors and the origin of stomata in plants.

Stomata are distributed in nearly all major groups of land plants, with the only exception being liverworts. Instead of having stomata on sporophytes, many complex thalloid liverworts possess air pores in their gametophytes. At present, whether stomata in land plants are derived from a common origin remains under debate.

Design and synthesis of novel pomegranate-like TiN@MXene microspheres as efficient sulfur hosts for advanced lithium sulfur batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have the characteristics of low cost, environmental protection, and high theoretical energy density, and have broad application prospects in the new generation of electronic products. However, there are some problems that seriously hinder the Li-S batteries from going from the laboratory to the factory, such as poor stability caused by the large volume expansion of sulfur during charging and discharging, sluggish kinetics of the electrochemical reaction resulting from the low conductivity of the active materials, and loss of active materials arising from the dissolution and diffusion of the intermediate product lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). In this paper, the two-dimensional layered material MXene and TiN are firstly combined by spray drying method to prepare pomegranate-like TiN@MXene microspheres with both adsorption capacity and catalytic effect on LiPSs conversion.

Parallel evolution of two AIM24 protein subfamilies and their conserved functions in ER stress tolerance in land plants.

Despite decades of efforts in genome sequencing and functional characterization, some important protein families remain poorly understood. In this study, we report the classification, evolution, and functions of the largely uncharacterized AIM24 protein family in plants, including the identification of a novel subfamily. We show that two AIM24 subfamilies (AIM24-A and AIM24-B) are commonly distributed in major plant groups.

Maternal cerium nitrate exposure induces developmental immunotoxicity in BALB/c mouse offspring.

With the increasing application of cerium and rare-earth elements (REEs), cerium exposure is becoming more widespread. However, there remains a paucity of evidence on developmental immunotoxicity of cerium. This study was designed to examine the developmental immunotoxicity of gestational and postnatal exposure to cerium nitrate (CN) in BALB/C mouse offspring.

Corrigendum: Lymphatic reconstruction in kidney allograft aggravates chronic rejection by promoting alloantigen presentation.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.

Genotype and phenotype analysis of epilepsy caused by ADGRV1 mutations in Chinese children.

Objective: To investigate the genotype and phenotype of epilepsy caused by ADGRV1 variants in Chinese children.

Methods: A total of 625 patients with epilepsy who had undergone whole-exon gene sequencing or epilepsy and related paroxysmal disease gene panel sequencing were recruited. Variants were evaluated for susceptibility pathogenicity based on their frequency in the Genome Aggregation Database (≤ 0.

Prognostic usefulness of clinical features and pretreatment F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters in patients with angiosarcoma.

Background: To investigate the prognostic value of clinical features and metabolic parameters in pretreatment F-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (F-FDG) positron emission tomography/X-ray computed tomography (PET/CT) scans of patients with angiosarcoma, a rare neoplasm that has not been well characterized.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 19 patients with a histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of angiosarcoma who had undergone pretreatment F-FDG PET/CT scans were enrolled. We recorded the age at presentation, sex, underlying diseases, sites of primary tumors, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score, time from onset to diagnosis, laboratory examinations, sites and sizes of primary tumors, treatment modalities, histologic features and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), average SUV (SUVavg), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG) of primary tumors and the whole body.

Associations of maternal exposure to fine particulate matter with preterm and early-term birth in high-risk pregnant women.

Background: Environmental pollution is a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes, especially preterm birth (PTB) and early-term birth (ETB). It has been revealed that exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) during pregnancy increase the prevalence of PTB. However, the relationship between PM exposure and ETB has not been elucidated.

Effects of intrauterine and lactational exposure to lanthanum nitrate on BALB/c offspring mice: Developmental immunotoxicity and self-recovery.

Lanthanum, a major rare earth element, can exert detrimental effects on the adult immune system, but its developmental immunotoxicity (DIT) remains obscure. This study was designed to evaluate the DIT of lanthanum nitrate (LN) and the self-recovery of LN-induced DIT 21 days following cessation of exposure. BALB/c pregnant dams were exposed to 0, 0.

Lymphatic Reconstruction in Kidney Allograft Aggravates Chronic Rejection by Promoting Alloantigen Presentation.

Chronic rejection of the renal allograft remains a major cause of graft loss. Here, we demonstrated that the remodeling of lymphatic vessels (LVs) after their broken during transplantation contributes to the antigen presenting and lymph nodes activating. Our studies observed a rebuilt of interrupted lymph draining one week after mouse kidney transplantation, involving preexisting lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) from both the donor and recipient.

Ethyl Pyruvate Alleviates Pulmonary Hypertension through the Suppression of Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation via the High Mobility Group Protein B1/Receptor for Advanced Glycation End-Products Axis.

Purpose: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a formidable disease with no effective treatment at present. With the goal of developing potential therapies, we attempted to determine whether ethyl pyruvate (EP) could alleviate PAH and its mechanism.

Methods: Pulmonary smooth muscle cells were cultured in conventional low-oxygen environments, and cellular proliferation was monitored after treatment with either EP or phosphate-balanced solution (PBS).

EEG theta responses induced by emoji semantic violations.

This study investigated emoji semantic processing by measuring changes in event-related electroencephalogram (EEG) power. The last segment of experimental sentences was designed as either words or emojis consistent or inconsistent with the sentential context. The results showed that incongruent emojis led to a conspicuous increase of theta power (4-7 Hz), while incongruent words induced a decrease.

Identification of IFN-Induced Transmembrane Protein 1 With Prognostic Value in Pancreatic Cancer Using Network Module-Based Analysis.

Despite improvements reported in diagnosis and treatments in recent decades, pancreatic cancer is still characterized by poor prognosis and low survival rate among solid tumors. Intensive interests have grown in exploring novel predictive biomarkers, aiming to enhance the efficiency in early detection and treatment prognosis. In this study, we identified the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pancreatic cancer by analyzing five gene expression profiles and established the functional modules according to the functional interaction (FI) network between the DEGs.

Mesangial C3 deposition and serum C3 levels predict renal outcome in IgA nephropathy.

Background: Complement activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). We aimed to evaluate the relationship between mesangial C3 deposition and histologic lesions and to investigate the role of mesangial C3 deposition and serum C3 reduction in predicting renal outcome in IgAN children.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study in children with biopsy-proven IgAN.

Serum levels of galactose-deficient IgA1 in Chinese children with IgA nephropathy, IgA vasculitis with nephritis, and IgA vasculitis.

Objective: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) and IgA vasculitis with nephritis (IgAV-N) are related diseases. Galactose-deficient IgA1 (Gd-IgA1) plays an important role in the pathology of IgAV-N and IgAN, so we aim to compare the serum levels of Gd-IgA1 in Chinese pediatric patients with IgAN, IgAV-N, and IgAV.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 52 patients with IgAN, 57 patients with IgAV-N, 26 patients with IgAV, and 40 healthy children.

1,4NQ-BC enhances the lung inflammation by mediating the secretion of IL-33 which derived from macrophages.

Black carbon (BC) is a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and vegetation. The compelling evidence has demonstrated that it has a close relationship with several respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. BC provides the reactive sites and surfaces to absorb various chemicals, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).

guard cell CO/HCO response mutant screening by an aequorin-based calcium imaging system.

Background: The increase in atmospheric CO is causing a number of changes in plant growth such as increases in leaf area and number, branching, plant size and biomass, and growth rate. Despite the importance of stomatal responses to CO, little is known about the genetic and molecular mechanisms that mediate stomatal development and movement in response to CO levels. Deciphering the mechanisms that sense changes in CO and/or HCO concentration is critical for unraveling the role of CO in stomatal development movement.

Knockdown of miR-665 Protects Against Cardiomyocyte Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury-Induced ROS Accumulation and Apoptosis Through the Activation of Pak1/Akt Signaling in Myocardial Infarction.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the major causes of death worldwide, and the therapeutic strategies of MI are still limited. In this study, we investigated the function of miR-665 in MI. In the present study, an ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) rat model and a hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced H9c2 cell model were successfully established to mimic the MI for in vivo and in vitro studies.

Processing network emojis in Chinese sentence context: An ERP study.

As network emojis play an increasingly important role in modern communications, the question of how semantic processing of emojis is performed in the context arises. By comparing the N400 and P600 effects of emojis and words in contextually incongruent conditions, we investigated the neural basis of semantic processing of emojis. We found that incongruent words elicited robust N400 and P600 effects, while emojis only generated a more conspicuous and sustained N400 effect.

The Therapeutic Potential of Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Enhance Radiotherapy Effects on Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Several studies have investigated strategies to improve the clinical efficacy of radiotherapy (RT) against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), yet the prognosis remains poor. Human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs), easily accessible and abundant in quantity, have represented as an attractive therapeutic tool for the stem cell-based treatment for cancer diseases. Through direct co-culture and indirect separate culture experiments, we showed that AT-MSCs could enhance inhibitory effect of RT on reducing HCC cell growth, migration and invasion in both and experiments.