Resuspended Nano-Minerals in Coal Ash: A Potential Factor in Elevated Lung Cancer Rates in Xuanwei and Fuyuan, Yunnan, China.

Xuanwei and the neighboring Fuyuan (XF) counties in Yunnan Province have the highest lung cancer incidence rates in China. Previous studies suggest that the nano-minerals released during the combustion of locally sourced "smoky" (bituminous) coal are the primary contributors to these elevated cancer rates. The coal ash generated during combustion predominantly consists of nano-minerals, which can be resuspended into the atmosphere during routine ash-handling activities.

Successful resection of a huge brainstem enterogenous cyst: case report and literature review.

Enterogenous cysts (ECs) are rare, benign, congenital ectopic endodermal cysts that only occasionally involve the central nervous system. We presented the diagnosis and treatment of an exceedingly rare case of EC located in the brainstem, which has previously been reported only seven times in pediatric patients. The patient underwent complete surgical resection and experienced no recurrence during the 6-month follow-up.

Performance of optically pumped magnetometer magnetoencephalography: validation in large samples and multiple tasks.

Current commercial magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems detect neuro-magnetic signals using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs), which require liquid helium as cryogen and have many limitations during operation. In contrast, optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) technology provides a promising alternative to conventional SQUID-MEG. OPMs can operate at room temperature, offering benefits such as flexible deployment and lower costs.

Ground cover management enhances soil extracellular enzyme activities across Chinese orchards.

The impacts of ground cover management (GCM) on orchard soil properties have been extensively studied. However, the quantitative assessment of soil extracellular enzyme activities (EEAs) in mulch agriculture remains understudied. In this study, we investigated EEAs related to GCM to assess microbial metabolic activity, soil health, and nutrient status, based on 81 studies focusing on orchards in China.

Ginsenoside Rh4 Ameliorates Cisplatin-Induced Intestinal Toxicity via PGC-1[Formula: see text]-Mediated Mitochondrial Autophagy and Apoptosis Pathways.

Cisplatin-evoked profound gastrointestinal symptomatology is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy drugs, causing further gastrointestinal cell and intestinal mucosal injury. Ginsenoside Rh4 (G-Rh4), an active component extracted from red ginseng, possesses beneficial anti-oxidative and anti-apoptosis effects. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of pharmacological intervention with G-Rh4 mitigating intestinal toxicity evoked by cisplatin in a murine model and in IEC-6 cells .

Profiling patent compounds in lipid nanoparticle formulations of siRNA.

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have emerged as a prominent delivery system for nucleic acid drugs, attracting significant attention, especially through the successful development of several commercial products. As a key component in LNPs, cationic lipids have long served as a key technical barrier to block competitors by building up a complex patent thicket. However, there have been few studies as yet that have comprehensively analyzed the patented compounds in LNP formulations, despite a large number of technical reviews and original articles.

Programmable Artificial Skins Accomplish Antiscar Healing with Multiple Appendage Regeneration.

Functional appendage regeneration is essential for skin rehabilitation, but it has always failed by current existing healing approaches, owing to their inefficacy in preventing disfiguring scars. In this study, a novel regeneration-directing artificial skin (RDAS) system is presented, which is based on the rational design of multi-layered hydrogels that closely mimic natural skin matrices. By leveraging the programmability and architectural rigidity of DNA components, without the need for exogenous cell transplantation, such RDAS effectively minimizes tissue fibrosis by accurately guiding the regenerative process in wound fibroblasts, enabling rapid scarless wound repair, restoration of dermal function, and successful in situ regeneration of multiple appendages, such as hair follicles (HFs), sebaceous glands (SGs), and sweat glands (SwGs).

Long-term effects of vagus nerve stimulation on EEG aperiodic components in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy.

Background: Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) affects approximately one-third of epilepsy patients who do not achieve adequate seizure control with medication. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is an adjunctive therapy for DRE, but its long-term effects on cortical excitability remain unclear.

Objectives: This study aims to elucidate the long-term effects of VNS on electroencephalography (EEG) aperiodic components in patients with DRE.

Volume-based structural connectome of epilepsy partialis continua in Rasmussen's encephalitis.

Rasmussen's encephalitis is a rare, progressive neurological inflammatory with hemispheric brain atrophy. Epilepsy partialis continua (EPC) is a diagnostic clinical condition in patients with Rasmussen's encephalitis. However, the incidence of EPC in the natural course of Rasmussen's encephalitis is only about 50%.

The Effect of Stereoelectroencephalography on the Long-Term Outcomes of Different Side Anterior Temporal Lobectomy: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Purpose: Anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) is the most common surgical treatment for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) plays a critical role in precisely localizing the epileptogenic zone (EZ). This study aimed to explore the effect of SEEG on the long-term outcomes of different side ATL.

Methods: From March 2012 to February 2020, a retrospective analysis was conducted on 231 TLE patients who underwent standard ATL surgery.

Pupylation-Based Proximity-Tagging of FERONIA-Interacting Proteins in Arabidopsis.

The plasma membrane-localized receptor kinase FERONIA (FER) plays critical roles in a remarkable variety of biological processes throughout the life cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana. Revealing the molecular connections of FER that underlie these processes starts with identifying the proteins that interact with FER. We applied pupylation-based interaction tagging (PUP-IT) to survey cellular proteins in proximity to FER, encompassing weak and transient interactions that can be difficult to capture for membrane proteins.

Clinical characteristics and detection of MYB-QKI fusions in patients with angiocentric glioma.

Purpose: Angiocentric glioma (AG), a benign tumor identified within the last two decades, was officially included in the 2007 WHO Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System, WHO grade I. The tumor is relatively rare, with only approximately 100 cases reported. We aim to complement the characteristics and long-term prognosis of AG, as well as to detect MYB-QKI fusions.

Separation and Extraction of Compound-Fault Signal Based on Multi-Constraint Non-Negative Matrix Factorization.

To solve the separation of multi-source signals and detect their features from a single channel, a signal separation method using multi-constraint non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is proposed. In view of the existing NMF algorithm not performing well in the underdetermined blind source separation, the β-divergence constraints and determinant constraints are introduced in the NMF algorithm, which can enhance local feature information and reduce redundant components by constraining the objective function. In addition, the Sine-bell window function is selected as the processing method for short-time Fourier transform (STFT), and it can preserve the overall feature distribution of the original signal.

Three nonconventional starch: Comparison of physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility.

Extraction of starch from waste is also an effective way to recover resources and provide new sources of starch. In this study, starch was isolated from white kidney bean residue, chickpea residue, and tiger nut meal after protein or oil extraction, and the morphology of starch particles was observed to determine their physicochemical properties and in vitro digestibility. All these isolated starches had unique properties, among which white kidney bean starch (KBS) had a high amylose content (43.

The Chinese medaka (Oryzias sinensis) dmrt1 gene converts females to males in medaka (Oryzias latipes).

Background: Chinese medaka (Oryzias sinensis) is widely distributed in freshwater rivers in China. Similar to the medaka (Oryzias latipes), Chinese medaka has the characteristics of small size, rapid reproductive cycle, and strong adaptability, which makes it suitable as a model organism for studies in basic biology and environmental toxicology. Chinese medaka exhibits distinct sexual dimorphism.

Seizure, Motor, and Cognitive Outcomes After Epilepsy Surgery for Patients With Sturge-Weber Syndrome: Results From a Multicenter Study.

Background And Objectives: Surgery is widely performed for refractory epilepsy in patients with Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS), but reports on its effectiveness are limited. This study aimed to analyze seizure, motor, and cognitive outcomes of surgery in these patients and to identify factors associated with the outcomes.

Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective observational study using data from patients with SWS and refractory epilepsy who underwent epilepsy surgery between 2000 and 2020 at 16 centers throughout China.

Evaluating the beam shape coefficients of Bessel-Gauss beams with radial quadrature: a comparison with angular spectrum decomposition and finite series methods.

The Bessel-Gauss beam (BGB) stands as a physically realizable beam extensively employed in applications such as micromanipulation and optical trapping. In these contexts, the assessment of beam shape coefficients (BSCs) becomes imperative. Previous research reveals that the BSCs of the BGBs obtained with different methods deviate from each other under certain circumstances.

Changes of microbial communities and metabolites in the fermentation of persimmon vinegar by bioaugmentation fermentation.

To evaluate the effects of bioaugmentation fermentation inoculated with one ester-producing strain (Wickerhamomyces anomalus ZX-1) and two strains of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum CGMCC 24035 and Lactobacillus acidophilus R2) for improving the flavor of persimmon vinegar, microbial community, flavor compounds and metabolites were analyzed. The results of microbial diversity analysis showed that bioaugmentation fermentation significantly increased the abundance of Lactobacillus, Saccharomyces, Pichia and Wickerhamomyces, while the abundance of Acetobacter, Apiotrichum, Delftia, Komagataeibacter, Kregervanrija and Aspergillus significantly decreased. After bioaugmentation fermentation, the taste was softer, and the sensory irritancy of acetic acid was significantly reduced.

Perfluoropolyether-Based Gut-Liver-on-a-Chip for the Evaluation of First-Pass Metabolism and Oral Bioavailability of Drugs.

In the evolving field of drug discovery and development, multiorgans-on-a-chip and microphysiological systems are gaining popularity owing to their ability to emulate in vivo biological environments. Among the various gut-liver-on-a-chip systems for studying oral drug absorption, the chip developed in this study stands out with two distinct features: incorporation of perfluoropolyether (PFPE) to effectively mitigate drug sorption and a unique enterohepatic single-passage system, which simplifies the analysis of first-pass metabolism and oral bioavailability. By introducing a bolus drug injection into the liver compartment, hepatic extraction alone could be evaluated, further enhancing our estimation of intestinal availability.

Preparation of Polyaniline-Modified Cellulose/PDMS Composite Triboelectric Material and Application of Its Pretreatment in MOW Pulp.

Self-powered electronic equipment has rapidly developed in the fields of sensing, motion monitoring, and energy collection, posing a greater challenge to triboelectric materials. Triboelectric materials need to enhance their electrical conductivity and mechanical strength to address the increasing demand for stability and to mitigate unpredictable physical damage. In this study, polyaniline-modified cellulose was prepared by means of in situ polymerization and compounded with polydimethylsiloxane, resulting in a triboelectric material with enhanced strength and conductivity.

Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) Nectin4 plays an important role against red spotted grouper nervous necrosis virus infection.

Nectins are adhesion molecules that play a crucial role in the organization of epithelial and endothelial junctions and function as receptors for the entry of herpes simplex virus. However, the role of Nectin4 remains poorly understood in fish. In this study, nectin4 gene was cloned from medaka (OlNectin4).

ADHD diagnosis guided by functional brain networks combined with domain knowledge.

Utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to model functional brain networks (FBNs) is increasingly prominent in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) research, revealing neural impact and mechanisms through the exploration of activated brain regions. However, current FBNs-based methods face two major challenges. The primary challenge stems from the limitations of existing modeling methods in accurately capturing both regional correlations and long-distance dependencies (LDDs) within the dynamic brain, thereby affecting the diagnostic accuracy of FBNs as biomarkers.