Mechanism of miR-424-5p promoter methylation in promoting epithelial-mesenchymal transition of hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

The current study set out to clarify the role of miR-424-5p promoter methylation in epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells. The findings of quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction and methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting assays elicited that miR-424-5p was poorly expressed in HCC tissues and cells while highly methylated. Meanwhile, upon demethylation, miR-424-5p expression levels were partly recovered in HCC cells.

Overexpression of G Protein-Coupled Receptor 40 Protects Obesity-Induced Cardiomyopathy Through the SIRT1/LKB1/AMPK Pathway.

Obesity has become a serious global public health problem, and cardiomyopathy caused by obesity has recently gained attention. As an important protein involved in glucose and lipid metabolism, G protein-coupled receptor 40 (GPR40) exerts cardioprotective effects in some disease models. This study aimed to explore whether GPR40 plays a protective role in obesity-induced cardiomyopathy.

Alteration of the dietary methionine: Cysteine ratio modulates the inflammatory response to an inter-peritoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide in wistar rats.

Sulphur amino acids (SAA) are essential for multiple physiological/metabolic processes, with the ratio of dietary methionine: cysteine (Met:Cys) being an important contributor to pro-inflammatory responses, including TNF-α activity. The current study was designed to determine the effect an altered dietary SAA ratio, and the resulting reliance on the transsulfuration pathway to supply Cys, will have on the inflammatory response. In the present study, 100 µg/kg of an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used as a model for systemic inflammation.

How to Enhance the Motivation for Drug Detoxification: Consciousness Guidance and Behaviour Restriction of Family Intergenerational Ethics.

Assisting substance users to recover from the behaviour of drug addiction and maintain long-term rehabilitation is a long and complicated process, in which the motivation to undergo drug rehabilitation plays a decisive role. So far, the cultural connotation of family and its mechanism of promoting behavioural change of substance users have not been fully explored. Through in-depth interviews with 15 drug rehabilitants, among which there were 7 women and 8 men, it is found that the motivation for drug rehabilitation is stimulated under the guidance and restriction of family ethics based on obligation and responsibility, which is mainly reflected in the longitudinal intergenerational responsibility.

Distribution and Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria and Risk Factors Among Kidney Transplantation Recipients with Infections Over 13 Years: A Retrospective Study.

Background: Infection ranks as the most common complication after kidney transplantation (KT) and threatens outcomes of kidney transplantation recipients (KTR). This study aimed to investigate the microbiological profile of infection, assess bacterial resistance and identify risk factors for multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infection among KTR.

Methods: During the study period, 866 recipients underwent kidney transplant surgery.

Pose tracking method using magnetic excitations with frequency division for robotic endoscopic capsules.

The poses of robotic endoscopic capsules are indispensable for further follow-up examinations, potential targeted drug delivery, and closed-loop controlling of active locomotion. A novel tracking method using the multiple magnetic excitations with frequency division has been investigated. The multiple excitation coils can simultaneously work at different frequency to improve real-time tracking.

NLRP2 inhibits cell proliferation and migration by regulating EMT in lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptors (NLRs) are crucial types of innate immune sensors and well known for their critical roles in the immune system. However, how NLRP2 functions in the progression of cancer is largely unknown. Here, we identified NLRP2 as an antioncogene in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) cells.

Highly efficient genome editing in Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae through repurposing the endogenous type I-C CRISPR-Cas system.

Efficient and modular genome editing technologies that manipulate the genome of bacterial pathogens will facilitate the study of pathogenesis mechanisms. However, such methods are yet to be established for Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), the causal agent of rice bacterial blight.

Development and validation of the nomogram based on INR and eGFR for estimation of mortality in patients with acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure.

Aims And Objectives: Acute-on-chronic hepatitis B liver failure (ACHBLF) is a critical clinical syndrome with a high short-term mortality evolved from chronic hepatitis B (CHB)-related liver disease. Prediction of mortality risk and early intervention can improve the prognosis of patients. This study aimed to develop and validate the nomogram for short-time mortality estimation in ACHBLF patients defined according to Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL).

Tumor-Associated Neutrophil Extracellular Traps Regulating Nanocarrier-Enhanced Inhibition of Malignant Tumor Growth and Distant Metastasis.

Tumor-associated neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play a critical role in promoting tumor growth and assisting tumor metastasis. Herein, a smart nanocarrier (designated as mP-NPs-DNase/PTX) based on regulating tumor-associated NETs has been developed, which consists of a paclitaxel (PTX) prodrug nanoparticle core and a poly-l-lysine (PLL) conjugated with the matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9)-cleavable Tat-peptide-coupled deoxyribonuclease I (DNase I) shell. After accumulating at the site of the tumor tissue, the nanocarrier can release DNase I in response to MMP-9 to degrade the structure of NETs.

The interaction between Lactobacillus plantarum SC-5 and its biogenic amine formation with different salt concentrations in Chinese Dongbei Suancai.

Dongbei Suancai (DBSC) - a Chinese cabbage-based sauerkraut is a traditional fermented food which is popular in Asian countries. The biogenic amines that are usually generated during spontaneous fermentation have raised public health concern, while inoculation technology may solve this problem. In the current research, the biogenic amines, as well as their interactions with the microbial community in DBSC inoculated with Lactobacillus plantarum SC-5 or spontaneously fermented without inoculation were systematically investigated throughout 60 d fermentation.

Dye functionalized lanthanide metal-organic framework as a multifunctional luminescent hybrid material for visual sensing of biomarker 2-methoxyaceticacid and sulfide anion.

Based on the anionic Slug-47 [Gd(bpdc)] [NH(CH)], a multifunctional fluorescent material with ultra-high stability has been fabricated successfully. Firstly, EuTbGd with white light emission is prepared by adjusting the doping ratio of Eu ions and Tb ions. Then, the dye acriflavine (ACF) is further introduced into the framework of Eu@ Slug-47 (1) via cation exchange to obtain ACF@1, which can be used as a ratio fluorescence sensor to detect 2-methoxyaceticacid (Maa), a toxic metabolite of glycol monomethyl ether, with the limit of detection (LOD) as low as 0.

CRH/CRHR1 modulates cerebrovascular endothelial cell permeability in association with S1PR2 and S1PR3 under oxidative stress.

Corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) has been demonstrated to participate in vascular inflammation and permeability. Our previous studies have shown that blockade of S1PR2 or CRHR1 inhibited HO-induced brain endothelial hyperpermeability via inhibiting cPLA phosphorylation. However, little is known about the linkage between S1PRs and CRHR1 in oxidative stress-induced cerebrovascular endothelial hyperpermeability.

Microalgae as a solution of third world energy crisis for biofuels production from wastewater toward carbon neutrality: An updated review.

The boost of the greenhouse gases (GHGs, largely carbon dioxide - CO) emissions owing to anthropogenic activity is one of the biggest global threats. Bio-CO emission reduction has received more and more attention as an environmentally sustainable approach. Microalgae are very popular in this regard because of excellent speed of growth, low costs of production, and resistance to extreme environments.

Social Exclusion and Impulsive Buying among Chinese College Students: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem and the Moderating Role of Risk Preference.

With the development of science and technology, buying has become much easier. At the same time, however, impulsive buying has many negative consequences for college students, such as dissatisfaction and debt; the causes of impulsive buying should, therefore, be explored urgently. There are numerous empirical studies indicating that social exclusion may be a potential factor of impulsive buying, and the underlying mechanisms of this association remain unclear.

The first high-quality chromosomal genome assembly of a medicinal and edible plant Arctium lappa.

Arctium lappa has a long medicinal and edible history with great economic importance. Here, the first high-quality chromosome-level draft genome of A. lappa was presented by the Illumina and PacBio sequencing data.

Biohydrogen production from microalgae for environmental sustainability.

Hydrogen as a clean energy that is conducive to energy and environmental sustainability, playing a significant role in the alleviation of global climate change and energy crisis. Biohydrogen generation from microalgae has been reported as a highly attractive approach that can produce a benign clean energy carrier to achieve carbon neutrality and bioenergy sustainability. Thus, this review explored the mechanism of biohydrogen production from microalgae containing direct biophotolysis, indirect biophotolysis, photo fermentation, and dark fermentation.

Aspergillus nidulans AmyG Functions as an Intracellular α-Amylase to Promote α-Glucan Synthesis.

α-Glucan is a major cell wall component and a virulence and adhesion factor for fungal cells. However, the biosynthetic pathway of α-glucan was still unclear. α-Glucan was shown to be composed mainly of 1,3-glycosidically linked glucose, with trace amounts of 1,4-glycosidically linked glucose.

Polypyrrole Serving as Multifunctional Surface Modifier for Photoanode Enables Efficient Photoelectrochemical Water Oxidation.

Conjugated polymer polypyrrole (PPy) with high electrical conductivity and excellent photothermal effect has been adopted as multifunctional surface modifier on ternary metal sulfide (CdIn S , CIS) photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting for the first time. As a p-type conducting polymer, PPy forms p-n junction with n-type CIS to relieve the bulk carrier recombination. Besides, the incorporation of Ni ions into PPy matrix further enhances the surface charge carrier transfer at photoanode/electrolyte interfaces.

A novel Joint-Net model for recognizing small-bowel polyp images.

Introduction: To automatically recognize polyps of enteroscopy images and avoid pathological change, a novel Joint-Net has been proposed.

Material And Methods: The left half of the Joint-Net is constructed by transfer learning VGG16 and its right half is deepened based on the U-Net. In the previous two skip connections, a 3 × 3 convolution layer is added and the original two convolutions are replaced by the identity blocks.

Honokiol Prodrug Nanoparticles Based on In Situ Albumin Binding for Long Circulation and High Tumor Uptake.

Honokiol (HK) has antiproliferation effects against numerous cancer cells, but its low solubility and bioavailability impede its application. In this study, a prodrug of HK (HP) featuring a maleimide group was synthesized and then mixed with tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate to prepare prodrug nanoparticles (HP-NPs). In vitro albumin binding experiments showed that HP rapidly reacted with the cysteine thiols of albumin to form a covalent conjugate that released HK slowly in the LLC tumor cell line.

Combination of parathyroid hormone pretreatment and mechanical stretch promotes osteogenesis of periodontal ligament fibroblasts.

Introduction: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) potentiates the mechanical loading induced bone formation in fracture healing and orthodontics. This study aimed to gain insight into the underlying mechanisms in periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLFs).

Methods: Human PDLFs were cultured and subjected to uniaxial cyclic stretch at 0.

Converting nitrogen and phosphorus wastewater into bioenergy using microalgae-bacteria consortia: A critical review.

Conventional wastewater treatment using activated sludge cannot efficiently eliminate nitrogen and phosphorus, thus engendering the risk of water eutrophication and ecosystem disruption. Fortunately, a new wastewater treatment process applying microalgae-bacteria consortia has attracted considerable interests due to its excellent performance of nutrients removal. Moreover, some bacteria facilitate the harvest of microalgal biomass through bio-flocculation.

A pilot study to investigate the alteration of gut microbial profile in Dip2a knockout mice.

Accumulating evidence has pointed out that the gut-brain axis plays important roles in the etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Gut dysbiosis was reported in both ASD human patients and animal models. Dip2a was identified as a human ASD candidate gene.

Magnetized manganese-doped watermelon rind biochar as a novel low-cost catalyst for improving oxygen reduction reaction in microbial fuel cells.

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are promising equipment for water treatment and power generation. The catalyst used in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode is a critical factor for efficacy of MFCs. Therefore, it is important to develop cost-effective cathode catalysts to enhance application of MFCs.