The role of immunoglobins in atherosclerosis development; friends or foe?

Coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis, and its life-threatening sequels impose the hugest burden on the healthcare systems throughout the world. The intricate process of atherosclerosis is considered as an inflammatory-based disorder, and therefore, the components of the immune system are involved in different stages from formation of coronary plaques to its development. One of the major effectors in this way are the antibody producing entities, the B cells.

Organic Molecule Functionalization Enables Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Dilute CO Feedstock.

The electrochemical conversion of low-concentration CO feedstock to value-added chemicals and fuels is a promising pathway for achieving direct valorization of waste gas streams. However, this is challenging due to significant competition from the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and lowered CO reduction (COR) kinetics as compared to systems that employ pure CO. Here we show that terephthalic acid (TPA) functionalization can boost selectivity towards COR and suppress HER over a range of catalysts including Bi, Cu and Zn.

Silver-promoted ceramic conversion treatment of Ti6Al4V alloy and its mechanical performance.

In this paper, the Ti6Al4V alloy surface was modified via ceramic conversion treatment (CCT) with or without a pre-deposited silver layer. After characterizing the surface morphologies, microstructure and phase constituents of the ceramic oxide layer formed at 620 °C, we investigated the surface hardness and the cross-sectional nano-hardness profile under the oxide layer. The static load-bearing capacity of the oxide layers was examined by applying discrete loads via a Vickers indenter and observing the indentations.

Bulk and single cells transcriptomes with experimental validation identify USP18 as a novel glioma prognosis and proliferation indicator.

The mechanism by which ubiquitin-specific protease 18 (USP18) (enzyme commission: 3.4.19.

Democratizing Pathological Image Segmentation with Lay Annotators via Molecular-empowered Learning.

Multi-class cell segmentation in high-resolution Giga-pixel whole slide images (WSI) is critical for various clinical applications. Training such an AI model typically requires labor-intensive pixel-wise manual annotation from experienced domain experts (e.g.

Psychrophilic phage phiGM22-3 efficiently controls Pseudomonas fluorescens contamination in cold-stored milk.

Pseudomonas fluorescens is a common spoilage causing microbe found in milk. Antibiotic preservatives may cause emergence of multidrug resistance, posing food safety related risks to public health. Phage treatment may be used as an alternative to antibiotics in controlling P.

Polystyrene microplastics induce kidney injury via gut barrier dysfunction and C5a/C5aR pathway activation.

Microplastic is an emerging environmental pollutant with potential health risks. Recent studies have shown that microplastic could impair gut homeostasis in mammals. Although it has been widely demonstrated that gut dyshomeostasis could impact renal health through the gut-kidney axis, the effects of microplastic-induced gut dyshomeostasis on renal health and underlying mechanisms are still largely unknown.

Maternal polysorbate 80 intake promotes offspring metabolic syndrome through vertical microbial transmission in mice.

Polysorbate 80 (P80) is an emulsifier extensively produced, consumed and discharged into the environment, consequently making human exposure inevitable. Despite evidence suggesting that P80 intake causes metabolic syndrome (MS) in mammals via microbial perturbation, limited data exist on its transgenerational impacts on offspring. In this study, we found that maternal P80 treatment impaired intestinal barrier integrity, leading to metabolic endotoxemia, low-grade inflammation and MS-related symptoms in C57BL/6J female offspring.

Decision-theoretic rough set model and spatial analysis-based waste-to-energy incineration plant site selection: a case study in first-tier cities of China.

Selecting a sustainable waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration plant site is important for handling huge challenges created by on-going municipal solid waste. However, many studies with WTE incineration plant site problems fail to determine alternative evaluation criteria and cities beforehand, which may increase decision costs and evaluation risks. This paper proposes a novel methodology based on decision-theoretic rough set model and suitable analysis for selecting the optimal WTE incineration plant site.

The role of vasoactive intestinal peptide in pulmonary diseases.

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) is an abundant neurotransmitter in the lungs and other organs. Its discovery dates back to 1970. And VIP gains attention again due to the potential application in COVID-19 after a research wave in the 1980s and 1990s.

Variants of a putative baseplate wedge protein extend the host range of Pseudomonas phage K8.

Background: Narrow host range is a major limitation for phage applications, but phages can evolve expanded host range through adaptations in the receptor-binding proteins.

Results: Here, we report that Pseudomonas phage K8 can evolve broader host range and higher killing efficiency at the cost of virion stability. Phage K8 host range mutant K8-T239A carries a mutant version of the putative baseplate wedge protein GP075, termed GP075m.

An End-to-end Pipeline for 3D Slide-wise Multi-stain Renal Pathology Registration.

Tissue examination and quantification in a 3D context on serial section whole slide images (WSIs) were labor-intensive and time-consuming tasks. Our previous study proposed a novel registration-based method (Map3D) to automatically align WSIs to the same physical space, reducing the human efforts of screening serial sections from WSIs. However, the registration performance of our Map3D method was only evaluated on single-stain WSIs with large-scale kidney tissue samples.

Phage phiZ98: A novel tri-segmented dsRNA cystovirus for controlling Pseudomonas strains with defective lipopolysaccharides in foods.

Many Pseudomonas phages recognize lipopolysaccharides (LPS) as the receptor for infection. LPS defective mutants are often recovered from phage treatments, possibly causing the failure of phage applications. In this work, we isolated a lytic Pseudomonas phage, phiZ98, that can specifically lyse LPS defective strains of the genus Pseudomonas.

A microbiome abundant environment remodels the intestinal microbiota and improves resistance to obesity induced by chlorpyrifos in mice.

There is a growing consensus that the appropriate microbiome abundant environment actuates microbiota changes to influence human health. Whether living environment reacts on the threat of contaminants and the underlying mechanism remain largely unknown. Therefore, we constructed microbiome abundant environment models, focusing on their regulatory effects on the obesity induced by the exogenous chemical chlorpyrifos (CPF) and the related mechanisms.

Precision Seeding Compensation and Positioning Based on Multisensors.

The current multi-row planter always leads to uneven seeding spacing between rows while seeding in curve paths, which causes uneven growth, a cost increase of production and management, and reduced yield. With the development of smart farming technology, a curve seeding compensation and precise positioning model is proposed in the paper to calculate the real-time speed and position of each seeding unit based on the information from multisensors, such as GNSS and IMU, and to predict the next seeding position to achieve uniform seeding on the curve and improve the unit yield of crops. MATLAB Simulink simulation experiments show that the seeding pass rate of the model is 99.

Metabolomic profiling to assess the effects of chlordanes and its bioaccumulation characteristics in chicken embryo.

Although chlordane-related compounds (CHLs) have been regulated, a variety of CHLs are still identified and detected in wild birds and eggs. Embryo is one of fragile periods and is very susceptible to toxic effects of pollutants. In this study, the fate of CHLs during embryo development and degradation of CHLs in neonatal chick were investigated.

Studies on irritable bowel syndrome associated with anxiety or depression in the last 20 years: A bibliometric analysis.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) associated with anxiety or depression is ubiquitous in clinical practice, and multiple related articles have been published. However, studies that utilize bibliometric analyses to address this topic are rare. In our study, we aimed to reveal research trends in IBS with anxiety or depression.

Knowledge Mapping of Acupuncture for Fibromyalgia from 1990 to 2022: A Bibliometric Analysis.

Background: Fibromyalgia is a rheumatic disease with no specific laboratory markers and is insensitive to hormonal drugs and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs commonly used to treat rheumatism. Guidelines recommend that non-pharmacological therapy should be the first-line treatment for fibromyalgia. Since the publication of the first diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia in 1990, studies on acupuncture for fibromyalgia have been reported periodically.

Herbicidal activity and differential metabolism of lactofen in rat and loach on an enantiomeric level.

Enantioselectivity of chiral compounds is receiving growing concern. Lactofen, a chiral herbicide widely used in field crops and vegetables to control broadleaf weeds, is still sold as racemate. In this work, the herbicidal activity and metabolism behavior of lactofen were investigated on an enantiomeric level.

Gut microbiome alterations induced by tributyltin exposure are associated with increased body weight, impaired glucose and insulin homeostasis and endocrine disruption in mice.

Tributyltin (TBT), an organotin compound once widely used in agriculture and industry, has been reported to induce obesity and endocrine disruption. Gut microbiota has a strong connection with the host's physiology. Nevertheless, the influences of TBT exposure on gut microbiota and whether TBT-influenced gut microbiota is related to TBT-induced toxicity remain unclear.

Toxicity risk assessment of pyriproxyfen and metabolites in the rat liver: A vitro study.

Pyriproxyfen (PYR) is a type of aromatic juvenile hormone analog and a hygienic insecticide used in agriculture to control insect species. Therefore, assessing the metabolic behavior and toxic effects of PYR in mammals is the best means of evaluating its risks to human health. Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the toxicity risks of PYR and its metabolites in rat hepatocytes.

Low-Cost Ru/C-Catalyzed Depolymerization of the Polymeric Proanthocyanidin-Rich Fraction from Bark To Produce Oligomeric Proanthocyanidins with Antioxidant Activity.

A new method has been developed for the high-value utilization of larch bark, which is regarded as a low-value byproduct of the logging industry. Polymeric proanthocyanidins (PPCs) were extracted from the bark and depolymerized by catalytic hydrogenolysis, using ruthenium/carbon (Ru/C) as the catalyst. The method has been found that although the molecular weight of the depolymerized product was significantly lower, the basic structural units were not destroyed, and the product retained a condensed flavanol polyphenol structure; the depolymerized product contains very little Ru metal and thus complies with food safety standards; the antioxidant properties of both the depolymerized products and PPCs were better than those of the commonly used antioxidant 2,6-di--butyl-4-methylphenol.

Pectin reduces environmental pollutant-induced obesity in mice through regulating gut microbiota: A case study of p,p'-DDE.

Background: The prevalence of obesity has raised global concerns. Environmental pollutants are one of the main causes of obesity. Many studies have demonstrated that dietary fiber could reduce obesity induced by high-fat diets, but whether environmental pollutant-induced obesity can be reversed is still unknown.