Publications by authors named "Shao Zheng"

The identification of distribution characteristics, pollution sources, and potential human health risks of heavy metals in groundwater is crucial for the scientific planning and rational development of groundwater resources in arid-semiarid regions. In this study, 46 groundwater samples were collected and analyzed using hydrogeochemical modeling and multivariate statistical analysis methods to reveal the pollution characteristics and speciation distribution of 11 heavy metals (As, B, Pb, Sb, Tl, Mn, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, and Al) in the Datong Basin. The absolute principal component-linear regression (APCS-MLR) model and health risk assessment model (HRA) were employed to determine the sources and health risk levels of heavy metals in groundwater.

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  • Cadherin 2 (CDH2) and Cadherin 13 (CDH13) significantly influence the progression and prognosis of various cancers, but their specific roles in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) are not well understood.
  • In a study of 75 ACC patients, CDH2 was found to be downregulated and CDH13 upregulated, affecting patient prognosis and showing a complex network of interactions with neighboring genes related to tumor development and metabolism.
  • Moreover, CDH13 expression correlated positively with immune cell infiltration in ACC, and treatments like anti-PD1 immunotherapy were shown to alter its expression; thus, CDH2 and CDH13 may be viable targets for
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  • Cadmium (Cd) is a harmful heavy metal that enters the food chain through plants, posing health risks to humans when consumed.
  • Researchers identified a specific protein called WAKL4 that helps plants tolerate Cd stress by regulating the uptake of this metal.
  • The study reveals that WAKL4 works by interacting with another protein, NRAMP1, to promote its degradation, thus reducing Cd absorption in plants, which could aid in developing crops that accumulate less Cd.
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  • Calcium is super important for plants to grow and handle stress, but it can be hard for them to get enough in acidic soils, which is bad for crops.
  • Researchers found that a special protein called STOP1 helps plants deal with low calcium by working better in the plant when there's not enough calcium.
  • STOP1 also helps turn on another protein, CCX1, that helps move calcium where it's needed in the plant, and if CCX1 is added back in, the plants can grow better even with low calcium levels.
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Minimizing cadmium (Cd) contamination in rice grains is crucial for ensuring food security and promoting sustainable agriculture. Utilizing genetic modification to generate rice varieties with low Cd accumulation is a promising strategy due to its cost-effectiveness and operational simplicity. Our study demonstrated that the CRISPR-Cas9-mediated quadruple mutation of the multicopper oxidase genes OsLPR1/3/4/5 in the japonica rice cultivar Tongjing 981 had little effect on yields.

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  • Inositol hexaphosphate (InsP) is the primary way phosphorus is stored in seeds, and reducing its levels is important for improving animal nutrition and minimizing environmental impact.
  • Researchers identified a group of proteins called Inositol Polyphosphate-related Cytoplasmic Kinases (IPCK1-IPCK6) that play a key role in regulating InsP levels in seeds.
  • In mutant seeds lacking these kinases, InsP levels dropped significantly while phosphate levels increased, suggesting that IPCKs help control InsP synthesis by recruiting specific proteins and forming a complex that enhances InsP biosynthesis.
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Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is one of the most important pathogens in the pig industry. Marc-145 cells are widely used for PRRSV isolation, vaccine production, and investigations into virus biological characteristics. Despite their significance in PRRSV research, Marc-145 cells struggle to isolate specific strains of the North American virus genotype (PRRSV-2).

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The compound [5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-fluoro-2,6-dimethylphenyl)porphyrinato]platinum(II), [Pt(CHFN)] or Pt(II)TFP, has been synthesized and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The Pt porphyrin exhibits a long-lived phosphorescent excited state (τ = 66 µs), which has been characterized by transient absorption and emission spectroscopy. The phosphorescence is extremely sensitive to oxygen, as reflected by a quenching rate constant of 5.

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Plant high-affinity K transporters (HKTs) mediate Na and K uptake, maintain Na/K homeostasis, and therefore play crucial roles in plant salt tolerance. In this study, we present cryoelectron microscopy structures of HKTs from two classes, class I HKT1;1 from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtHKT1;1) and class II HKT2;1 from Triticum aestivum (TaHKT2;1), in both Na- and K-bound states at 2.6- to 3.

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Objective: To investigate the nephroprotective potential of orally administered bracken extract against renal damage in quails, induced by a high-purine diet, to form a foundation for subsequent clinical studies and applications.

Materials And Methods: A mass spectrometry analysis was conducted on the pteridophyte subjected to steam explosion. Network pharmacological methods were then utilized to pinpoint shared targets and pathways, which suggested that has a capability to counteract renal injury.

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Plant survival requires an ability to adapt to differing concentrations of nutrient and toxic soil ions, yet ion sensors and associated signaling pathways are mostly unknown. Aluminum (Al) ions are highly phytotoxic, and cause severe crop yield loss and forest decline on acidic soils which represent ∼30% of land areas worldwide. Here we found an Arabidopsis mutant hypersensitive to Al.

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Cytokinins are essential for plant growth and development, and their tissue distributions are regulated by transmembrane transport. Recent studies have revealed that members of the 'Aza-Guanine Resistant' (AZG) protein family from Arabidopsis thaliana can mediate cytokinin uptake in roots. Here we present 2.

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Root hairs are tubular-shaped outgrowths of epidermal cells essential for plants acquiring water and nutrients from the soil. Despite their importance, the growth of root hairs is finite. How this determinate growth is precisely regulated remains largely unknown.

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Background: Failure to achieve target concentrations of β-lactam antibiotics is not uncommon despite administration of high doses. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors predicting non-attainment of β-lactams target concentration in critically ill patients receiving meropenem as an intravenous infusion.

Materials And Methods: The retrospective study included adult patients receiving meropenem by intravenous infusion and undergoing therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) in the intensive care units (ICU) at Nanjing First Hospital.

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Background: Serine hydroxymethyltransferase () is a serine-glycine-one-carbon metabolic enzyme in which and encode the cytoplasmic and mitochondrial isoenzymes, respectively. and are key players in cancer metabolic reprogramming, and thus are attractive targets for cancer therapy. However, the role of in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not been fully elucidated.

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Purpose: Our objective was to investigate differences in the ocular surface bacterial composition in cataract patients with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D).

Methods: Twenty-four diabetic patients with cataracts (group D) and 14 sex- and age-matched patients with age-related cataracts (group N) were recruited for this study. All samples underwent DNA extraction, fragmentation, purification, library construction, and metagenomic sequencing.

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Purpose: Contact lens wear (CLW) is one of the leading risk factors for Pseudomonas aeruginosa keratitis (PAK). However, the intrinsic factors that contribute to the high susceptibility to keratitis during CLW remain to be elucidated. CLW over an extended period can elevate corneal norepinephrine (NE) concentration.

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Iron (Fe) is an essential micronutrient for plants, and its storage in the apoplast represents an important Fe pool. Plants have developed various strategies to reutilize this apoplastic Fe pool to adapt to Fe deficiency. In addition, growing evidence indicates that the dynamic changes in apoplastic Fe are critical for plant adaptation to other stresses, including ammonium stress, phosphate deficiency, and pathogen attack.

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In recent years, natural polysaccharides have attracted more and more attention and research because of their value in the medicine, beauty and food fields. is a traditional Chinese herb that has been used for thousands of years and has antidiabetic, antifibrotic, neuroprotective, antioxidation, anti-inflammatory and other effects. It mainly includes rosmarinic acid, tanshinone I, tanshinone IIA, tanshinone IIB, procatechualdehyde, polysaccharide and salvianolic acids.

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  • - The study investigates the role of the BET family (BRD2, BRD3, BRD4) in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), focusing on their expression levels, prognostic significance, and gene regulatory networks, revealing their potential as therapeutic targets.
  • - Analysis using various online databases showed that BRD2 and BRD3 are significantly overexpressed in ACC patients, with their expression correlating with cancer stage and lower expression linked to better survival rates.
  • - The research highlights the complex interactions between BRD family genes and their surrounding genetic network, indicating a significant frequency of alterations and potential pathways involved in ACC progression.
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Background: Pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (PYCR) includes three human genes encoding three isozymes, , , and (or ), which facilitate the final step in the conversion of glutamine to proline. These genes play important roles in regulating the cell cycle and redox homeostasis as well as promoting growth signaling pathways. Proline is abnormally upregulated in a variety of cancers, and as the last key enzyme in proline production, PYCR plays an integral role in promoting tumorigenesis and cancer progression.

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Cell wall is the first physical barrier to aluminum (Al) toxicity. Modification of cell wall properties to change its binding capacity to Al is one of the major strategies for plant Al resistance; nevertheless, how it is regulated in rice remains largely unknown. In this study, we show that exogenous application of putrescines (Put) could significantly restore the Al resistance of art1, a rice mutant lacking the central regulator Al RESISTANCE TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR 1 (ART1), and reduce its Al accumulation particularly in the cell wall of root tips.

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Epithelial-mesenchymal transdifferentiation of alveolar type Ⅱ epithelial cells is a vital source of pulmonary myofibroblasts, and myofibroblasts formation is recognized as an important phase in the pathological process of silicosis. miR-30c-5p has been determined to be relevant in the activation of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in numerous disease processes. However, elucidating the role played by miR-30c-5p in the silicosis-associated EMT process remains a great challenge.

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Purpose: The identification of early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD) is important for the effective management of patients, affecting their treatment and prognosis. Recently, structural brain networks (SBNs) have been used to diagnose PD. However, how to mine abnormal patterns from high-dimensional SBNs has been a challenge due to the complex topology of the brain.

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