Chromosome-level genome assembly of the razor clam Sinonovacula constricta (Lamarck, 1818).

Bivalves, a highly diverse and the most evolutionarily successful class of invertebrates native to aquatic habitats, provide valuable molecular resources for understanding the evolutionary adaptation and aquatic ecology. Here, we reported a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly of the razor clam Sinonovacula constricta using Pacific Bioscience single-molecule real-time sequencing, Illumina paired-end sequencing, 10X Genomics linked-reads and Hi-C reads. The genome size was 1,220.

Efficient pretreatment of industrial estate wastewater for biodegradability enhancement using a micro-electrolysis-circulatory system.

A self-made micro-electrolysis-circulatory system with the mixture regime of an upflow bed and reactor was tested for the pretreatment of industrial estate wastewater with a low ratio of biological to chemical oxygen demand (BOD/COD) at room temperature, 1:1 vol ratio of sponge iron (SFe)/granular activated carbon (GAC), and an intermittent process in aeration and discharge. The system efficiency was evaluated in view of the effects of various processes (hydraulic retention time (HRT), fillers/wastewater ratio (S/L) and aeration). COD reduction of about 51% was obtained for industrial estate wastewater at an S/L ratio of 25%, refluence rate of 16 L/h, HRT of 24 h, and aeration of 60 L/h as the optimal conditions.

Fabric Circuit Board Connecting to Flexible Sensors or Rigid Components for Wearable Applications.

Electronic textiles demand a new family of flexible circuit boards in the construction of fiber or fiber assemblies. This paper presents a stretchable woven fabric circuit board (FCB) with permanent as well as detachable electrical connections to sensors or other wearable electronics components. The woven FCB was created by integrating conductive yarns into an elastic woven fabric.

Current diagnosis and management of Crohn's disease in China: results from a multicenter prospective disease registry.

Background: This study aimed to understand the disease characteristics and treatment outcomes of Crohn's disease (CD) in a real-world setting in China.

Methods: In this prospective, non-interventional, multicenter disease registry, adults (≥18 years) with existing and newly diagnosed CD were recruited from 14 medical centers across China from January 2015 to January 2017. The study consisted of the enrollment and follow-up periods, of 12 months each.

"It Wasn't Just One Thing": A Qualitative Study of Newly Homeless Emergency Department Patients.

Objectives: Emergency departments (EDs) frequently care for patients who are homeless or unstably housed. One promising approach taken by the homeless services system is to provide interventions that attempt to prevent homelessness before it occurs. Experts have suggested that health care settings may be ideal locations to identify and intervene with patients at risk for homelessness, yet little is known even about the basic characteristics of patients who might benefit from such interventions.

Pharmacokinetics of Arctigenin and Fructus Arctii Powder in Piglets.

Fructus arctii, also known as great power seed, is the dried fruit of of the family Compositae. It is a commonly used veterinary herbal medicine, and arctigenin is the main active ingredient. The aim of this study was to characterize the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of arctigenin and Fructus arctii powder in piglets.

Prognostic Significance of Potential Immune Checkpoint Member HHLA2 in Human Tumors: A Comprehensive Analysis.

Immunological checkpoint inhibitors have been immensely successfully applied in the treatment of cancer, however, a portion of tumor patients can't benefit from checkpoint therapy. The low PD-1/CTLA-4 positive rate and involvement of multiple immunosuppressive pathways are thought to be one of the reasons for treatment failure in non-responding patients. A new immune checkpoint molecule, HHLA2, which was widely expressed in PD-1 negative human tumors, may be a promising target for the improvement of recent immune therapy.

Heteroatom-Induced Electronic Structure Modulation of Vertically Oriented Oxygen Vacancy-Rich NiFe Layered Double Oxide Nanoflakes To Boost Bifunctional Catalytic Activity in Li-O Battery.

NiFe-based transition metal oxide (NiFe-TMO) has been identified as an effective electrocatalyst for lithium-oxygen (Li-O) batteries due to its superior catalytic activity for oxygen evolution reaction. Improving the bifunctional catalytic ability of NiFe-TMO is essential for the further performance improvement of Li-O batteries. Herein, we regulated the electronic structure of free-standing NiFe LDO nanosheets array via introducing foreign Co ion to improve its bifunctional catalytic activity in Li-O batteries.

Vitamin D Alleviates Rotavirus Infection through a Microrna-155-5p Mediated Regulation of the TBK1/IRF3 Signaling Pathway In Vivo and In Vitro.

(1) Background: Vitamin D (VD) plays a vital role in anti-viral innate immunity. However, the role of VD in anti-rotavirus and its mechanism is still unclear. The present study was performed to investigate whether VD alleviates rotavirus (RV) infection through a microRNA-155-5p (miR-155-5p)-mediated regulation of TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1)/interferon regulatory factors 3 (IRF3) signaling pathway in vivo and in vitro.

MiR-21-3p modulates lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation and apoptosis via targeting TGS4 in retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a major reason of blindness in the elderly. MicroRNAs are implicated in various pathological processes, including inflammation and apoptosis. In this study, we aim to investigate the biological functions of miR-21-3p in inflammation and apoptosis caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in human retinal pigment epithelial (ARPE-19) cells.

Commensal Microbes Affect Host Humoral Immunity to Infection.

As important players in the host defense system, commensal microbes and the microbiota influence multiple aspects of host physiology. infection is highly contagious among humans. However, the roles of the microbiota in pathogenesis are poorly understood.

Best practices on immunomodulators and biologic agents for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Asia.

The Asia-Pacific Working Group on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was established in Cebu, Philippines, under the auspices of the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology with the goal of improving IBD care in Asia. This consensus is carried out in collaboration with Asian Organization for Crohn's and Colitis. With biologic agents and biosimilars becoming more established, it is necessary to conduct a review on existing literature and establish a consensus on when and how to introduce biologic agents and biosimilars in the conjunction with conventional treatments for ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) in Asia.

Hypersonic Aerodynamic Force Balance Using Micromachined All-Fiber Fabry⁻Pérot Interferometric Strain Gauges.

This paper presents high-sensitivity, micromachined all-fiber Fabry-Pérot interferometric (FFPI) strain gauges and their integration in a force balance for hypersonic aerodynamic measurements. The FFPI strain gauge has a short Fabry-Pérot cavity fabricated using an excimer laser etching process, and the deformation of the cavity is detected by a white-light optical phase demodulator. A three-component force balance, using the proposed FFPI gauges as sensing elements, was fabricated, calibrated, and experimentally evaluated.

2,4,5-Trichloro-6-((2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)amino)isophthalonitrile, Exerts Anti-bladder Activities through IGF-1R/STAT3 Signaling.

2,4,5-Trichloro-6-((2,4,6-trichlorophenyl)amino)isophthalonitrile (SYD007) is a small molecule compound that was synthesized according to the structure of diarylamine. In this study, we evaluated the anti-bladder activities of SYD007, and determined its cytotoxic mechanism. We found that SYD007 exerted cytotoxicity to bladder cancer cells.

Temperature-insensitive fiber-optic tip sensors array based on OCMR for multipoint refractive index measurement.

A temperature-insensitive fiber-optic tip sensors array is proposed for multipoint refractive index measurement using optical carrier based on microwave reflection (OCMR). The tip sensors array is made of a series of cleaved fiber end-faces and is spatially multiplexed by physically connecting with a fiber-optic splitter with different lengths of short delay fiber. A sensors array with eight sensing tips is demonstrated for multipoint refractive index measurement.

Postharvest UV-B Irradiation Stimulated Ginsenoside Rg Biosynthesis through Nitric Oxide (NO) and Jasmonic Acid (JA) in Roots.

The study highlights the influence and signal transduction mechanism of postharvest UV-B on the production of Rg in roots during the drying process. The results showed that postharvest UV-B irradiation induced generation of nitric oxide (NO), jasmonic acid (JA), and ginsenoside Rg of roots. The UV-B-induced increase of Rg was suppressed by NO-specific scavenger (cPTIO) and NOS inhibitors (PBITU), JA synthesis inhibitor (SHAM), and JA synthesis inhibitor (PrGall), indicating that NO and JA played essential parts in UV-B-induced Rg.

Biosynthesis of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in the razor clam Sinonovacula constricta: Characterization of four fatty acyl elongases and a novel desaturase capacity.

As an unusual economically important aquaculture species, Sinonovacula constricta possesses high levels of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). Previously, our group identified fatty acyl desaturases (Fad) with Δ5 and Δ6 activities in S. constricta, which was the first report of Δ6 Fad in a marine mollusc.

Membrane fouling control by Ca during coagulation-ultrafiltration process for algal-rich water treatment.

Seasonal algal bloom, a water supply issue worldwide, can be efficiently solved by membrane technology. However, membranes typically suffer from serious fouling, which hinders the wide application of this technology. In this study, the feasibility of adding Ca to control membrane fouling in coagulation-membrane treatment of algal-rich water was investigated.

Tacrolimus Therapy in Steroid-Refractory Ulcerative Colitis: A Review.

Inflammatory bowel diseases are known for a chronic inflammatory process of the gastrointestinal tract and include Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients who are dependent on or resistant to corticosteroids account for about 20% of severe UC patients. Tacrolimus is a calcineurin inhibitor that has recently been used in the treatment of steroid-refractory ulcerative colitis.

Full convolutional network based multiple side-output fusion architecture for the segmentation of rectal tumors in magnetic resonance images: A multi-vendor study.

Purpose: Accurate segmentation of rectal tumors is a basic and crucial task for diagnosis and treatment of rectal cancer. To avoid tedious manual delineation, an automatic rectal tumor segmentation model is proposed.

Methods: A pretrained Resnet50 model was introduced for feature extraction.

Emerging views of mitophagy in immunity and autoimmune diseases.

Mitophagy is a vital form of autophagy for selective removal of dysfunctional or redundant mitochondria. Accumulating evidence implicates elimination of dysfunctional mitochondria as a powerful means employed by autophagy to keep the immune system in check. The process of mitophagy may restrict inflammatory cytokine secretion and directly regulate mitochondrial antigen presentation and immune cell homeostasis.

Circular RNA expression alterations in colon tissues of Crohn's disease patients.

Genetic factors are crucial in the development of Crohn's disease (CD). Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are known to function as microRNA (miRNA) sponges and regulate a number of signalling pathways via circRNA‑miRNA interactions. As competing endogenous RNAs, the functions of circRNAs in CD should be investigated.

Best practices on immunomodulators and biologic agents for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Asia.

The Asia-Pacific Working Group on Inflammatory Bowel Disease was established in Cebu, Philippines, under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Association of Gastroenterology with the goal of improving inflammatory bowel disease care in Asia. This consensus is carried out in collaboration with Asian Organization for Crohn's and Colitis. With biologic agents and biosimilars becoming more established, it is necessary to conduct a review on existing literature and establish a consensus on when and how to introduce biologic agents and biosimilars in conjunction with conventional treatments for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Asia.

Ssl3451 is Important for Accumulation of NDH-1 Assembly Intermediates in the Cytoplasm of Synechocystis sp. Strain PCC 6803.

Two mutants sensitive to high light for growth and impaired in NDH-1 activity were isolated from a transposon-tagged library of Synechocystis sp. strain PCC 6803. Both mutants were tagged in the ssl3451 gene encoding a hypothetical protein, which shares a significant homology with the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) CHLORORESPIRATORY REDUCTION 42 (CRR42).

Comparative transcriptome analyses provide insights into the adaptation mechanisms to acute salt stresses in juvenile Sinonovacula constricta.

Background: Sinonovacula constricta is an economically important bivalve species in China, Korea and Japan that widely resides in estuarine and coastal areas where salinity fluctuates rapidly. However, little is known about its adaptation mechanisms to acute salt stresses.

Objective: To reveal the underlying molecular mechanisms involved in acute salt stresses in juvenile S.