Publications by authors named "PingPing Zhu"

Objective: Potassium voltage-gated channel sub-family A member 1 (Kv1.1), as a shaker homolog potassium channel, displays a special mechanism for posttranscriptional regulation called RNA editing. Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA 2 (ADAR2) can cause abnormal editing or loss of normal editing, which results in cell damage and related diseases.

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Scope: Cow's milk allergy (CMA) is one of the most prevalent food allergies in early childhood, often treated via elimination diets including standard amino acid-based formula or amino acid-based formula supplemented with synbiotics (AAF or AAF-S). This work aimed to assess the effect of cow's milk (CM) tolerance acquisition and synbiotic (inulin, oligofructose, Bifidobacterium breve M-16 V) supplementation on the fecal metabolome in infants with IgE-mediated CMA.

Methods And Results: The CMA-allergic infants received AAF or AAF-S for a year during which fecal samples were collected.

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Inferential decision-making algorithms typically assume that an underlying probabilistic model of decision alternatives and outcomes may be learned or online. Furthermore, when applied to robots in real-world settings they often perform unsatisfactorily or fail to accomplish the necessary tasks because this assumption is violated and/or because they experience unanticipated external pressures and constraints. Cognitive studies presented in this and other papers show that humans cope with complex and unknown settings by modulating between near-optimal and satisficing solutions, including heuristics, by leveraging information value of available environmental cues that are possibly redundant.

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Article Synopsis
  • SnoRNAs, especially SNORD88B, play a significant role in liver cancer stem cells (CSCs) and their ability to self-renew, which is crucial for liver tumor growth.
  • The study reveals that the absence of SNORD88B disrupts self-renewal in liver CSCs and hinders liver cancer development by affecting specific signaling pathways.
  • Targeting SNORD88B with antisense oligonucleotides, in combination with other therapies, shows promise for improving treatment outcomes in liver cancer patients.
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Tumorigenesis is a complicated process in which numerous modulators are involved in different ways. Previous studies have focused primarily on tumor-associated protein-coding genes such as oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, as well as their associated oncogenic pathways. However, noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), rising stars in diverse physiological and pathological processes, have recently emerged as additional modulators in tumorigenesis.

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Article Synopsis
  • RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are crucial for various RNA processes, and their abnormal expression may lead to cancer, particularly colorectal cancer (CRC).
  • A CRISPR screen identified 27 RBPs that help CRC cells survive, with INTS3 being significant; its depletion caused CRC cell death by destabilizing protective gene transcripts.
  • Targeting INTS3 using specialized nanoparticles showed promise in reducing tumor growth, suggesting new potential treatments for CRC.
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A three-dimensional alginate-coated scaffold (GAIS) was constructed in the present study to showcase the multidifferentiation potential of peripheral blood mesenchymal stem cells (PBMSCs) and to investigate the role and mechanism by which Icariin (ICA)/stromal cell-derived factor (SDF-1α)/PBMSCs promote damaged articular repair. In addition, the ability of ICA, in combination with SDF-1α, to promote the migration and proliferation of stem cells was validated through the utilization of CCK-8 and migration experiments. The combination of ICA and SDF-1α inhibited the differentiation of PBMSCs into cartilage, as demonstrated by in vivo experiments and histological staining.

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Untargeted metabolomics based on reverse phase LC-MS (RPLC-MS) plays a crucial role in biomarker discovery across physiological and disease states. Standardizing the development process of untargeted methods requires paying attention to critical factors that are under discussed or easily overlooked, such as injection parameters, performance assessment, and matrix effect evaluation. In this study, we developed an untargeted metabolomics method for plasma and fecal samples with the optimization and evaluation of these factors.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study introduces a new nanoplatform, M-CNP/Mn@pPHS, designed to induce tumor-specific pyroptosis (a form of cell death) by utilizing a plasmid that targets specific tumor markers for effective cancer immunotherapy.
  • - This nanoplatform combines manganese-doped calcium carbonate nanoparticles with tumor-derived cell membranes, allowing for efficient targeting and release of the pyroptosis-inducing plasmid inside tumor cells.
  • - By implementing an "AND gate circuit" strategy, the system ensures gasdermin D, which triggers pyroptosis, is only produced in cells with high levels of tumor-specific markers, leading to significant tumor growth inhibition (79.8% regression) while minimizing side effects. *
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The increasing prevalence of IgE-mediated cow's milk allergy (CMA) in childhood is a worldwide health concern. There is a growing awareness that the gut microbiome (GM) might play an important role in CMA development. Therefore, treatment with probiotics and prebiotics has gained popularity.

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Cancer immunotherapy has emerged as a promising strategy in the treatment of colorectal cancer, and relapse after tumor immunotherapy has attracted increasing attention. Cancer stem cells (CSCs), a small subset of tumor cells with self-renewal and differentiation capacities, are resistant to traditional therapies such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Recently, CSCs have been proven to be the cells driving tumor relapse after immunotherapy.

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Pyroptosis, mediated by gasdermin proteins, has shown excellent efficacy in facilitating cancer immunotherapy. The strategies commonly used to induce pyroptosis suffer from a lack of tissue specificity, resulting in the nonselective activation of pyroptosis and consequent systemic toxicity. Moreover, pyroptosis activation usually depends on caspase, which can induce inflammation and metabolic disorders.

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Icariin (ICA) is a typical flavonoid glycoside derived from epimedium plants. It has both anabolic and anti-catabolic effects to improve bone mineral density and reduce bone microstructural degradation. However, the effect and underlying mechanism of ICA on the proliferation and metabolism of chondrocyte and synthesis of extracellular matrix are still unclear.

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The homing and engraftment of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) into bone marrow is the first critical step for successful clinical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). SDF-1 / CXCR4 is considered to be a very promising target to promote HSC homing. In recent years, with the in-depth research on the HSC homing, a variety of new strategies for promoting HSC homing and engraftment have been explored, such as nuclear hormone receptor, histone deacetylase inhibitor, prostaglandin and metabolic regulation, so as to increase the success rate of HSCT and improve the survival of patients.

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Background: Obesity-related metabolic diseases have recently evoked worldwide attention. Studies have demonstrated that Enteromorpha polysaccharide (EP) exerts lipid-lowering effects, but the underlying mechanism remains unclear.

Objectives: We investigated whether EP regulates lipid metabolism disorders in mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity via an AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-dependent pathway.

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Liver tumour-initiating cells (TICs) contribute to tumour initiation, metastasis, progression and drug resistance. Metabolic reprogramming is a cancer hallmark and plays vital roles in liver tumorigenesis. However, the role of metabolic reprogramming in TICs remains poorly explored.

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Article Synopsis
  • Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) help heal and regenerate the lining of the intestines.
  • Researchers found a special type of RNA called circBtnl1 that affects how ISCs heal.
  • When the circBtnl1 was removed in mice, it made the ISCs work better and heal faster by increasing a protein called ATF4, which helps with self-renewal.
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Although conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) has been shown to have anti-obesity properties, the effect and mechanism of CLA in alleviating glycolipid metabolism disorders remains unclear. In this work, it was observed that rats fed a high-fat diet (HFD) had lower body weight and body fat levels after 9 weeks of low-dose and high-dose CLA interventions. The results of blood biochemical indices showed that CLA significantly reduced the levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood glucose and insulin.

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  • Information-driven control enhances intelligent sensors to improve their measurements by utilizing feedback from the environment.
  • The paper introduces a new, more manageable way to estimate information gain in multi-object tracking using random finite set (RFS) theory, addressing challenges like noisy data, missed detections, and false alarms.
  • The proposed approach is validated through experiments that track multiple vehicles in real-time using video data from both terrestrial and satellite sources.
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Radix Oryzae Glutinosae (ROG) has been used as a traditional anhidrotic agent in China. Ten samples were systematically assessed based on four aspects of their chemical profiles and antioxidant activity. The former was achieved using ultraviolet-visible spectra (UV), infrared absorption spectra (IR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H NMR), and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) fingerprints, and antioxidant activity was assessed using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay, the 2,2'-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) assay, and the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay.

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This study investigates heavy metal contamination of commonly consumed medicinal herbs and human health risks to the Chinese population arising from the consumption of herbs that contain potentially harmful elements. Food safety standards for Chinese residents are becoming stricter, and much work in this field needs to be performed. This study examines Co, Ba, Fe, Cr, Mn, Ni, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, Cu, Be, Sb, and Bi concentrations in four regularly consumed Chinese herb species: Radix Paeoniae Alba (RPA), Radix Angelicae Dahuricae (RAD), Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae (RAM), and Radix Puerariae (RP).

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