ERα phosphorylated at Ser309 participates in regulating luminal environment of efferent ducts and epididymis in mice.

The estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) plays an important role in male reproduction and fertility. Its activity is modulated by phosphorylation of multiple amino acid residues. The ERα phosphorylated at serine 305 (S305) in human cells (homologous with serine 309 in mice) induces ligand-independent ERα activity.

Targeting AhR suppresses hepatocyte ferroptosis in MASH by regulating the Pten/Akt/β catenin axis.

Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR), an essential host regulator, has been observed to be significantly upregulated in patients with Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The specific AhR antagonist CH223191 and siRNAs were employed to investigated the role of AhR and its potential as a therapeutic target for MASH in mice and hepatocytes model.

CSTAN: A Deepfake Detection Network with CST Attention for Superior Generalization.

With the advancement of deepfake forgery technology, highly realistic fake faces have posed serious security risks to sensor-based facial recognition systems. Recent deepfake detection models mainly use binary classification models based on deep learning. Despite achieving high detection accuracy on intra-datasets, these models lack generalization ability when applied to cross-datasets.

Non-Interleaved Shared-Aperture Full-Stokes Metalens via Prior-Knowledge-Driven Inverse Design.

Characterization of electromagnetic wave polarization states is critical in various applications of materials, biomedical, and imaging. The emergence of metasurfaces opens up the possibility of implementing highly integrated full-Stokes imagers. Despite rapid development, prevailing schemes on metasurface-based full-Stokes imagers require interleaved or cascaded designs, inevitably resulting in performance deterioration, bulky size, and complicating the imaging procedure due to misalignment.

METTL14 regulates inflammation in ulcerative colitis via the lncRNA DHRS4-AS1/miR-206/A3AR axis.

As a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC) has not been fully elucidated. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification, observed in various RNAs, is implicated in inflammatory bowel diseases. Methyltransferase-like 14 (METTL14) is the major subunit of the methyltransferase complex catalyzing m6A modifications.

The Mutation Does Not Affect the Calcium Homeostasis of the Epididymis and Male Fertility in Mice.

A low-calcium microenvironment is imperative for spermatozoa maturation within the epididymis. Our previous work has shown that γ-glutamyl carboxylase (GGCX), the carboxylation enzyme of the matrix Gla protein (MGP), plays an essential role in epididymal calcium homeostasis and sperm maturation in rats and that the GGCX SNP mutation rs699664 was associated with asthenozoospermia (AZS) in humans. Here, we investigated the expression patterns of GGCX and MGP in the mouse epididymis and generated knock-in (KI) mice.

Being close or being alone: How Social ostracism affects solitude preference.

Social ostracism refers to the phenomenon of being excluded from social interactions and not being accepted by society. While previous research has examined its impact on prosocial and antisocial behaviour, few studies have investigated how individuals respond to ostracism by seeking solitude. Therefore, our study aims to explore the association between social ostracism and solitude seeking as well as the potential psychological mechanisms involved.

Cross-patch feature interactive net with edge refinement for retinal vessel segmentation.

Retinal vessel segmentation based on deep learning is an important auxiliary method for assisting clinical doctors in diagnosing retinal diseases. However, existing methods often produce mis-segmentation when dealing with low contrast images and thin blood vessels, which affects the continuity and integrity of the vessel skeleton. In addition, existing deep learning methods tend to lose a lot of detailed information during training, which affects the accuracy of segmentation.

Understanding cellulose pyrolysis via ab initio deep learning potential field.

Comprehensive and dynamic studies of cellulose pyrolysis reaction mechanisms are crucial in designing experiments and processes with enhanced safety, efficiency, and sustainability. The details of the pyrolysis mechanism are not readily available from experiments but can be better described via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. However, the large size of cellulose molecules challenges accurate ab initio MD simulations, while existing reactive force field parameters lack precision.

Metastasis-associated protein 1 participates in regulating luminal acidification of the epididymis via repressing estrogen receptor alpha transcription.

Background: As a component of the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylating (NuRD) complex, metastasis-associated protein 1 (MTA1) has been reported to be abundant in male reproductive system and might participate in spermatogenesis and sperm maturation, whereas the precise functional role of MTA1 in these processes is still undetermined.

Objective: To investigate the effect and potential function of MTA1 in male fertility.

Materials And Methods: Mta1 knockout mice (Mta1) were employed to detect their reproductive phenotype.

A novel cholesterol metabolism-related ferroptosis pathway in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Emerging studies have reported the contribution of cholesterol to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. However, the specific role and mechanism of cholesterol metabolism on spontaneous and progressive HCC development from the point of view of ferroptosis are still worth exploring. The present study aimed to reveal a novel mechanism of cholesterol metabolism-related ferroptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Strategies for utilizing covalent organic frameworks as host materials for the integration and delivery of bioactives.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs), a new and developing class of porous framework materials, are considered a type of promising carrier for the integration and delivery of bioactives, which have diverse fascinating merits, such as a large specific surface area, designable and specific porosity, stable and orderly framework structure, and various active sites. However, owing to the significant differences among bioactives (including drugs, proteins, nucleic acid, and exosomes), such as size, structure, and physicochemical properties, the interaction between COFs and bioactives also varies. In this review, we firstly summarize three strategies for the construction of single or hybrid COF-based matrices for the delivery of cargos, including encapsulation, covalent binding, and coordination bonding.

Anti-Inflammatory Ergosteroid Derivatives from the Coral-Associated Fungi HL-44.

To obtain the optimal fermentation condition for more abundant secondary metabolites, Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) medium was chosen for the scale-up fermentation of the fungus HL-44 associated with the soft coral . The EtOAc extract of the fungi HL-44 was subjected to repeated column chromatography (CC) on silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 and semipreparative RP-HPLC to afford a new ergostane-type sterol ester () together with fifteen derivatives (-). Their structures were determined with spectroscopic analyses and comparisons with reported data.

Ce/Mn/Cr: (Re,Y)AlO Phosphor Ceramics (Re = Gd, Tb and Lu) for White LED Lighting Significant Spectral Redshift and Improved Color-Rendering Index.

In order to attain phosphor ceramics with a high Color-Rendering Index (CRI), samples with the composition of YReCe)(Al MnCr)O(Re = 0, Gd, Gd, Gd, Tb, Tb, Tb and Lu were prepared by solid-state reaction and vacuum sintering, and exhibited potential for high-quality, solid-state lighting. Doping with Cr and Mn effectively enhanced the red component of Ce spectra through the intense energy transfer from Ce ions to Mn/Cr ions. The crystal field splitting of [GdO] and [TbO] was more extensive than that of [YO], causing a massive redshift in the Ce emission peaks from 542 to 561 and 595 nm, while [LuO] had an opposite effect and caused a blueshift with a peak position at 512 nm.

RBC Transfusion Strategy in Oncological Patients with Chronic RBC Transfusion Therapy.

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion therapy has greatly reduced mortality and morbidity in multiply transfused patients with oncological malignancies. The aim of this study was to underline the necessity of introducing a policy for extended RBC phenotyping of these patients and for the issuing of antigen-matched blood (at least for E antigen).

Methods: Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the associations of age, gender, transfusion history, and various malignancies with the development of red cell alloimmunization.

An eco-friendly ultrasound approach to extracting yellow dye from Cassia alata flower petals: Characterization, dyeing, and antibacterial properties.

Using natural dyes in dyeing industries becomes an alternative to synthetic dyes, which are known to contain harmful chemicals that can pose risks to the environment and human health. This study involves the extraction of yellow dye from Cassia alata flower petals, optimization of the extraction process using an ultrasonic bath (40 KHz and an input power of 500), ultrasonic probe (390 W, 455 W, 520 W, 585 W, and 650 W), and conventional heating (heating mantle with 30 °C, 40 °C, 50 °C, 60 °C, and 70 °C), characterization of the dye, as well as dyeing (cotton, silk, and leather) without using a mordant. The extracted yellow dye was further evaluated to determine its antibacterial activity against skin bacteria.

Artificial intelligence-quantified tumour-lymphocyte spatial interaction predicts disease-free survival in resected lung adenocarcinoma: A graph-based, multicentre study.

Background And Objective: A high degree of lymphocyte infiltration is related to superior outcomes amongst patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Recent evidence indicates that the spatial interactions between tumours and lymphocytes also influence the anti-tumour immune responses, but the spatial analysis at the cellular level remains insufficient.

Methods: We proposed an artificial intelligence-quantified Tumour-Lymphocyte Spatial Interaction score (TLSI-score) by calculating the ratio between the number of spatial adjacent tumour-lymphocyte and the number of tumour cells based on topology cell graph constructed using H&E-stained whole-slide images.

Searching by parts: Towards fine-grained image retrieval respecting species correlation.

Most of the existing works on fine-grained image categorization and retrieval focus on finding similar images from the same species and often give little importance to inter-species similarities. However, these similarities may carry species correlations such as the same ancestors or similar habits, which are helpful in taxonomy and understanding biological traits. In this paper, we devise a new fine-grained retrieval task that searches for similar instances from different species based on body parts.

Synthesis and Functionalization of Graphene Materials for Biomedical Applications: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Perspectives.

Since its discovery in 2004, graphene is increasingly applied in various fields owing to its unique properties. Graphene application in the biomedical domain is promising and intriguing as an emerging 2D material with a high surface area, good mechanical properties, and unrivalled electronic and physical properties. This review summarizes six typical synthesis methods to fabricate pristine graphene (p-G), graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), followed by characterization techniques to examine the obtained graphene materials.

Phenotypic Disease Network-Based Multimorbidity Analysis in Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy Patients with Hospital Discharge Records.

Background: Idiopathic cardiomyopathy (ICM) is a rare disease affecting numerous physiological and biomolecular systems with multimorbidity. However, due to the small sample size of uncommon diseases, the whole spectrum of chronic disease co-occurrence, especially in developing nations, has not yet been investigated. To grasp the multimorbidity pattern, we aimed to present a multidimensional model for ICM and differences among age groups.

Cognitive magnetic resonance imaging-ultrasound fusion transperineal targeted biopsy combined with randomized biopsy in detection of prostate cancer.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers among men. Various strategies for targeted biopsy based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) have emerged, which may improve the accuracy of detecting clinically significant PCa in recent years.

Aim: To investigate the diagnostic efficiency of a template for cognitive MRI-ultrasound fusion transperineal targeted plus randomized biopsy in detecting PCa.

Co-regulation of dispersion, exposure and defect sites on CeO (111) surface for catalytic oxidation of Hg.

The additional cost of Hg capture in coal-fired power plants has facilitated the demand for environmental pollutants mitigation material for Hg oxidation to Hg for an ultra-low Hg emission technology. Herein, a suite of CeO-based catalysts were investigated aiming at ultra-low gaseous Hg emission at coal-fired power stations. Gaseous elemental mercury is feasible to be catalytically oxidized to Hg.

Digestion and Swelling Kinetics of Thymoquinone-Loaded Pickering Emulsions Incorporated in Alginate-Chitosan Hydrogel Beads.

The present work aimed to investigate the swelling behavior, digestion, and release of a hydrophobic bioactive compound, thymoquinone (TQ), loaded in Pickering emulsion incorporated in alginate-chitosan hydrogel beads using a simulated gastrointestinal model. In this study, oil-in-water Pickering emulsions of uniform micron droplet sizes were formulated using 20% red palm olein and 0.5% (w/v) cellulose nanocrystals-soy protein isolate (CNC/SPI) complex followed by encapsulation within beads.