Publications by authors named "Robert Li"

Cross-feeding involves microbes consuming exudates of other surrounding microbes, mediating elemental cycling. Characterizing the diversity of cross-feeding pathways in ocean microbes illuminates evolutionary forces driving self-organization of ocean ecosystems. Here, we uncover a purine and pyrimidine cross-feeding network in globally abundant groups.

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Understanding the etiological complexity of diseases requires identifying biomarkers longitudinally associated with specific phenotypes. Advanced sequencing tools generate dynamic microbiome data, providing insights into microbial community functions and their impact on health. This review aims to explore the current roles and future visionary endeavors of dynamic methods for integrating longitudinal microbiome multi-omics data in personalized and precision medicine.

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The development of self-healing materials provides a new opportunity and challenge for advancing triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs). However, the low strength and low toughness of self-healing triboelectric materials often result in the deformation or breakage of TENG under high mechanical loads, thereby limiting their potential applications. Herein, a new strategy for fabricating self-healing triboelectric materials is reported, which introduces cross-linking networks with hydrogen bonds and metal coordination bonds.

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Objective: To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and effectiveness of a comprehensive regional program, including the Minimally Invasive Recovery and Empowerment Care (MIREC) pathway, that can significantly reduce hospital stays after laparoscopic gastrectomy without increasing adverse events.

Background: Cost-effectiveness and improving patient outcomes are crucial in providing quality gastric cancer care worldwide.

Methods: To compare the outcomes of gastric cancer surgery using 2 different models of care within an integrated healthcare system from February 2012 to March 2023.

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Purpose: Bariatric surgery is associated with a greater venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk in the weeks following surgery, but the long-term risk of VTE is incompletely characterized. We evaluated bariatric surgery in relation to long-term VTE risk.

Materials And Methods: This population-based retrospective matched cohort study within three United States-based integrated health care systems included adults with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 35 kg/m who underwent bariatric surgery between January 2005 and September 2015 (n = 30,171), matched to nonsurgical patients on site, age, sex, BMI, diabetes, insulin use, race/ethnicity, comorbidity score, and health care utilization (n = 218,961).

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Background: Studies comparing transcatheter and surgical aortic valve replacement (TAVR and SAVR) for patients with trileaflet aortic stenosis (AS) have found similar or larger effective orifice area (EOA) for TAVR prostheses. To our knowledge, no studies have compared EOA in patients undergoing TAVR versus SAVR for bicuspid AS.

Methods: We retrospectively compared prosthetic valvular sizing and predicted EOA for patients with bicuspid AS undergoing TAVR or SAVR at our institution between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • Krill oil (KO) contains beneficial compounds like omega-3 fatty acids and may improve gut health by influencing microbial interactions and aiding in the healing of infectious colitis.
  • Using a multi-omics approach, the study showed that KO reduces inflammation, normalizes gut tissue growth, and enhances the diversity of gut bacteria, particularly those that produce butyrate.
  • KO also strengthens the gut’s protective barriers and promotes healing by regulating specific proteins involved in inflammatory responses, suggesting it could be a valuable dietary supplement for gut health.
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Chemokines play critical roles in the recruitment and activation of immune cells in both homeostatic and pathologic conditions. Here, we examined chemokine ligand-receptor pairs to better understand the immunopathogenesis of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE), a complex autoimmune connective tissue disorder. We used suction blister biopsies to measure cellular infiltrates with spectral flow cytometry in the interface dermatitis reaction, as well as 184 protein analytes in interstitial skin fluid using Olink targeted proteomics.

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Red cabbage (RC), a cruciferous vegetable rich in various bioactive substances, can significantly reduce the risk factors of several non-communicable diseases, but the mechanism underlying the biological effects of RC remains unclear. Furthermore, mechanisms that operate through the regulation of gut microbiota also are not known. Given the relationships between diet, gut microbiota, and health, a diet-induced mice obesity model was used to elucidate the influence of RC on gut microbial composition and bacteria-bacteria interactions in mice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The emergence of drug resistance in anti-infectives highlights the urgent need for new broad-spectrum treatments for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) caused by eukaryotic parasites, such as fungal infections.* -
  • Researchers modified the well-known antifungal drug fluconazole with organometallic groups, resulting in new compounds that not only enhance the drug's effectiveness but also broaden its application against various pathogens.* -
  • These new compounds demonstrated strong effectiveness against pathogenic fungal infections and parasitic worms, with mechanisms of action that differ from the original drug, making them promising candidates in the fight against drug-resistant infections and efforts to eliminate NTDs by 2030.*
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This study is part of the work investigating bioactive fruit enzymes as sustainable alternatives to parasite anthelmintics that can help reverse the trend of lost efficacy. The study looked to define biological and molecular interactions that demonstrate the ability of the pomegranate extract punicalagin against intracellular parasites. The study compared transcriptomic reads of two distinct conditions.

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With the emergence of challenges in the environmental degradation and resource scarcity fields, the research of biobased self-healing polyurethane (BSPU) has become a prevailing trend in the technology of the polyurethane industry and a promising direction for developing biomass resources. Here, the production of BSPU from lignocellulose, vegetable oil, chitosan, collagen, and coumarin is classified, and the principles of designing polyurethane based on compelling examples using the latest methods and current research are summarized. Moreover, the impact of biomass materials on self-healing and mechanical properties, as well as the tailored performance method, are presented in detail.

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Cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) is a renewable resource derived from lignocellulosic materials, known for its optical permeability, biocompatibility, and unique self-assembly properties. Recent years have seen great progresses in cellulose nanocrystal-based chiral photonic materials. However, due to its inherent brittleness, cellulose nanocrystal shows limitations in the fields of flexible materials, optical sensors and food freshness testing.

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Unlabelled: Drug resistance observed with many anti-infectives clearly highlights the need for new broad-spectrum agents to treat especially neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) caused by eukaryotic parasitic pathogens including fungal infections. Since these diseases target the most vulnerable communities who are disadvantaged by health and socio-economic factors, new agents should be, if possible, easy-to-prepare to allow for commercialization based on their low cost. In this study, we show that simple modification of one of the most well-known antifungal drugs, fluconazole, with organometallic moieties not only improves the activity of the parent drug but also broadens the scope of application of the new derivatives.

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Cruciferous vegetable microgreens, such as red cabbage microgreens (RCMG), are of special interest due to their well-documented health-promoting effects compared to their mature counterparts. However, little is known of the biological effects of microgreens. The present study used a rodent diet-induced obesity model to investigate the effect of consuming RCMG on the gut microbiota.

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Doxorubicin (Dox) is among the most widely used cancer chemotherapeutic drugs. The clinical use of Dox is, however, limited due to its cardiotoxicity. Studies over the past several decades have suggested various mechanisms of Dox-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC).

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Article Synopsis
  • Metformin is a widely used diabetes medication known for its effectiveness in lowering blood glucose and has a strong safety profile, making it the first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes.
  • Recent studies have shown that metformin also offers additional health benefits, particularly in protecting cardiovascular health, which is highlighted through various experimental and clinical research findings.
  • Despite promising evidence supporting metformin's cardiovascular protective effects, more large-scale clinical trials are needed to confirm its efficacy in patients with heart disease and heart failure.
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Recipient T cells can aggravate or regulate lethal and devastating graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). In this context, we have shown before that intestinal immune conditioning with helminths is associated with survival of recipient T cells and Th2 pathway-dependent regulation of GVHD. We investigated the mechanism of survival of recipient T cells and their contribution to GVHD pathogenesis in this helminth infection and BMT model after myeloablative preparation with total body irradiation in mice.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed 18 cats with anemia of suspected immune-mediated origin (ASIMO) and found conflicting results in FeLV diagnosis tests.
  • It highlighted the presence of both immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) and precursor targeted immune-mediated anemia (PIMA) among the cats, with a significant survival rate of 78%.
  • The research emphasizes the importance of verifying FeLV SNAP ELISA positive results with further testing, such as pro-virus PCR, due to inconsistencies in different diagnostic methods.
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Biodegradable polylactide/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) blends have been widely utilized as packaging materials. However, it is urgent to develop a biocompatibilizer to improve the interfacial interaction of the biodegradable immiscible polymer blends in practice. In this paper, a novel type of hyperbranched polysiloxane (HBPSi) with terminal methoxy groups was synthesized and then utilized to functionalize lignin through a hydrosilation reaction.

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Article Synopsis
  • Punicalagin (PA), a bioactive compound in pomegranates, has shown potential to impact gut health by affecting the interactions between host and gut microbiota.
  • * In studies using colitis models, PA reduced intestinal inflammation and microbial diversity, while also normalizing lipid and γ-glutamyl amino acid levels.
  • * The research suggests that PA could be developed as both a functional food ingredient and a therapeutic agent, with specific microbial signatures identified as potential biomarkers for its efficacy.
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Unlabelled: To compare hypertension remission and relapse after bariatric surgery compared with usual care.

Background: The effect of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy on hypertension remission and relapse has not been studied in large, multicenter studies over long periods and using clinical blood pressure (BP) measurements.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was set in Kaiser Permanente Washington, Northern California, and Southern California.

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Punicalagin (PA) is a key ellagitannin abundant in pomegranate with wide-ranging biological activities. In this study, we examined the biological processes by which PA regulates bacterial growth and inflammation in human cells using multiomics and molecular docking approaches. PA promoted macrophage-mediated bacterial killing and inhibited the growth of by inducing a distinct metabolome pattern.

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The inherent shortcomings such as flammability, brittleness, and low crystallinity limit the broad applications of poly(lactic acid) (PLA). To improve the fire resistance and mechanical properties of PLA, a chitosan-based core-shell flame retardant additive (APBA@PA@CS) was prepared for PLA via the self-assembly of interionic interactions among chitosan (CS), phytic acid (PA), and 3-aminophenyl boronic acid (APBA). The peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total heat release rate (THR) of PLA composite containing 3 wt% APBA@PA@CS decreased from 460.

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