Publications by authors named "X-F Ma"

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  • The study investigates how gut microbial metabolites (GMM), specifically phenylacetylglutamine (PAGln), are linked to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in people with alcohol use disorder.
  • In experiments with mice, researchers found that chronic alcohol consumption led to changes in gut microbes and increased PAGln levels, which were associated with cardiovascular issues.
  • PAGln was shown to cause heart and blood vessel problems independent of alcohol, indicating that it plays a significant role in the development of CVD related to alcohol consumption.
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  • TnpB proteins from the IS200/IS605 family have potential for genome editing, but their uncharacterized collateral nuclease activity hinders the development of diagnostic tools.
  • Research revealed that TnpB from a heat-loving archaeon has increased ability to cleave single-stranded DNA when heated, and mutations in target DNA affect this activity.
  • A new detection method called TESD (TnpB Enable fast and Sensitive Detection) was created, achieving sensitivity of 29 copies per microliter in 30 minutes, paving the way for improved molecular diagnostics.
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Background: Atheroprotective shear stress preserves endothelial barrier function, while atheroprone shear stress enhances endothelial permeability. Yet, the underlying mechanisms through which distinct flow patterns regulate EC integrity remain to be clarified. This study aimed to investigate the involvement of Kindlin-2, a key component of focal adhesion and endothelial adherens junctions crucial for regulating endothelial cell (EC) integrity and vascular stability.

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  • Cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is a significant concern for heart disease, but there's currently no effective treatment to minimize this type of heart damage.
  • This study recruited patients with acute myocardial infarction to examine the impact of plasma RIPK3 levels before and after treatment, using both patient data and lab experiments on cells and mouse models.
  • Elevated RIPK3 levels post-treatment were linked to worse outcomes, and experiments showed that RIPK3 worsens heart injury by triggering inflammation, suggesting its role as a damaging molecule that could be targeted for therapy.
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Rationale And Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association of clinical, imaging, and pathological-molecular characteristics with the prediction of patient prognosis with stage IA invasive lung adenocarcinoma (ILADC) after sub-lobar resection.

Materials And Methods: This study assessed 360 patients, including 91 and 269 with and without recurrence 3 years postoperatively, respectively, with stage IA ILADC undergoing preoperative chest computed tomography (CT) scans and subsequent sub-lobar resection at our institution. Their clinical and CT features and histological subtypes and gene mutation status were compared.

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Background And Purpose: Symptoms of normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) are sometimes refractory to shunt placement, with limited ability to predict improvement for individual patients. We evaluated an MRI-based artificial intelligence method to predict postshunt NPH symptom improvement.

Materials And Methods: Patients with NPH who underwent MRI before shunt placement at a single center (2014-2021) were identified.

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  • - This study fills a gap in understanding the phylogenetic relationships within the apple tribe Maleae by analyzing 563 plastomes from 370 species across 26 genera, using advanced methods like RAxML and IQ-TREE2 for robust phylogenetic framework establishment.
  • - The research identifies three major clades within Maleae and proposes an updated taxonomic system featuring three subtribes: Malinae, Lindleyinae, and Vauqueliniinae, supported by nuclear data, morphology, and chromosomal evidence.
  • - Additionally, the study summarizes the taxonomy of specific genera, recognizing various species and varieties, and includes lectotypification of 12 names with two new classifications for previously identified species.
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  • - The study introduces a new chemical reaction that uses visible light to create complex compounds called trihalomethylated products without needing additional catalysts or metals.
  • - The reaction effectively transforms a specific compound (2-hydroxy-2-hex-5-enenitrile) into valuable products, demonstrating versatility by also converting a different compound (benzo[]thiazol-2-yl)-pent-4-enol) into trihalo-hexanone.
  • - This process operates under mild conditions, can handle various functional groups, and serves as a novel method for adding multiple functional groups to unactivated olefins.
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Background: Angiogenesis, which plays a critical role in embryonic development and tissue repair, is controlled by a set of angiogenic signaling pathways. As a TF (transcription factor) belonging to the basic helix-loop-helix family, HEY (hairy/enhancer of split related with YRPW motif)-1 (YRPW motif, abbreviation of 4 highly conserved amino acids in the motif) has been identified as a key player in developmental angiogenesis. However, the precise mechanisms underlying HEY1's actions in angiogenesis remain largely unknown.

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Low-dimensional crystalline materials have attracted much attention due to their special physical and chemical properties. Herein, two new oxalate chlorides, C(NH)Cd(CO)Cl(HO)·HO and BaCd(CO)Cl(HO), were synthesized. C(NH)Cd(CO)Cl(HO)·HO presents the unique {[Cd(CO)Cl(HO)]} chain, while BaCd(CO)Cl(HO) shows a novel {[Cd(CO)Cl]} layer.

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The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant evades most currently approved neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) and caused drastic decrease of plasma neutralizing activity elicited by vaccination or prior infection, urging the need for the development of pan-variant antivirals. Breakthrough infection induces a hybrid immunological response with potentially broad, potent and durable protection against variants, therefore, convalescent plasma from breakthrough infection may provide a broadened repertoire for identifying elite nAbs. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and BCR sequencing (scBCR-seq) of B cells from BA.

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Purpose: Optical tissue transparency (OTT) provides a tool for visualizing the entire tissue block. This study provides insights into the potential value of OTT with light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM) in detecting choroidal neovascularization (CNV) lesions.

Methods: OTT with LSFM, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of paraffin sections, choroidal flatmount immunofluorescence, and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) were used to obtain images of CNV.

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Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of low-dose trans-resveratrol (trans-RSV) on diabetes-induced retinal ganglion cell (RGC) degeneration and its possible mechanism.

Methods: A streptozotocin-induced diabetic mouse model was established and treated with or without trans-RSV intragastric administration (10 mg/kg body weight/day) for 12 weeks. Oscillatory potentials (Ops) of the dark-adapted electroretinogram (ERG) were recorded.

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Two-dimensional ferrovalley materials should simultaneously possess three characteristics, that is, a Curie temperature beyond atmospheric temperature, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, and large valley polarization for potential commercial applications. In this report, we predict two ferrovalley Janus RuClX (X = F, Br) monolayers by first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations. The RuClF monolayer exhibited a valley-splitting energy as large as 194 meV, perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy of 187 μeV per f.

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Herein, hypervalent iodine-catalyzed halogenation of aryl-activated alkenes using BX (X = Cl, Br) as the halogen source and activating reagents was reported. Various halogenated 1,3-oxazine/2-oxazoline derivatives were obtained in good-to-high yields. Using BF resulted in different substitute sites from BBr and BCl of the products, indicating different reactive intermediates and reaction pathways.

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Human RNA binding protein Musashi-1 (MSI1) plays a critical role in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) by binding to various host RNA transcripts. The canonical MSI1 binding site (MBS), A/GUAG single-strand motif, is present in many RNA virus genomes, but only Zika virus (ZIKV) genome has been demonstrated to bind MSI1. Herein, we identified the AUAG motif and the AGAA tetraloop in the Xrn1-resistant RNA 2 (xrRNA2) as the canonical and non-canonical MBS, respectively, and both are crucial for ZIKV neurotropism.

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Article Synopsis
  • A randomized, double-blind, phase 2 trial assessed the safety and effectiveness of a new vaccine, NVSI-06-09, as a booster for UAE adults previously vaccinated with BBIBP-CorV.
  • * The trial involved 516 participants who received either NVSI-06-09 or continued with BBIBP-CorV, showing a similar low incidence of mild adverse reactions in both groups.
  • * Results indicated that NVSI-06-09 produced significantly higher neutralizing antibody levels against various SARS-CoV-2 variants, including significantly better responses against Omicron strains compared to BBIBP-CorV.
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Introduction: Although the 9-minute mean withdrawal time (m-WT) is often reported to be associated with the optimal adenoma detection rate (ADR), no randomized trials of screening colonoscopy have confirmed the impact of a 9-minute m-WT on adenoma miss rate (AMR) and ADR.

Methods: A multicenter tandem trial was conducted in 11 centers. Seven hundred thirty-three asymptomatic participants were randomized to receive segmental tandem screening colonoscopy with a 9-minute withdrawal, followed by a 6-minute withdrawal (9-minute-first group, 9MF, n = 366) or vice versa (6-minute-first group, 6MF, n = 367).

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Sweat pH is a critical indicator for evaluating human health. With the extensive attention on the wearable and flexible biosensing devices, the technology for the monitoring of human sweat can be realized. In this study, a sensitive, miniaturized, and flexible electrochemical sweat pH sensor was developed for the continuous and real-time monitoring of the hydrogen-ion concentration in human sweat.

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The continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants highlights the need of developing vaccines with broad protection. Here, according to the immune-escape capability and evolutionary convergence, the representative SARS-CoV-2 strains carrying the hotspot mutations were selected. Then, guided by structural and computational analyses, we present a mutation-integrated trimeric form of spike receptor-binding domain (mutI-tri-RBD) as a broadly protective vaccine candidate, which combined heterologous RBDs from different representative strains into a hybrid immunogen and integrated immune-escape hotspots into a single antigen.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers used various techniques and hypertensive animal models to understand how low extracellular chloride influences ClC-5 activity and related cerebrovascular changes.
  • * The study found that low chloride conditions increase ClC-5 function, leading to smooth muscle cell proliferation and vascular remodeling through the WNK1/AKT signaling pathway, suggesting ClC-5 is crucial in hypertension's impact on blood vessels.
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Nanotubular materials have garnered considerable attention since the discovery of carbon nanotubes. Although the layer-to-tube rolling up mechanism has been well recognized in explaining the formation of many inorganic nanotubes, it has not been generally applied to coordination polymers (CPs). To uncover the key factors that determine the rolling-up of layered CPs, we have chosen the Co/-, -Xpemp [Xpemp = (4-X-1-phenylethylamino)methylphosphonic acid, X = H, F, Cl, Br] systems and study how the weak interactions influence the formation of layered or tubular structures.

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Background: Salt substitutes with reduced sodium levels and increased potassium levels have been shown to lower blood pressure, but their effects on cardiovascular and safety outcomes are uncertain.

Methods: We conducted an open-label, cluster-randomized trial involving persons from 600 villages in rural China. The participants had a history of stroke or were 60 years of age or older and had high blood pressure.

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The methods to obtain cellulose-chitosan composite films exhibiting excellent water-resisting and antibacterial abilities have been widely explored. Cellulose-chitosan-citric films (C-Ch-F) were successfully obtained by a facile coating of chitosan-citric complex on the surface of cellulose. The occurrence of nonenzymatic browning at 80 °C improved the thermal stability, water-resistance, mechanical property and oxygen-barrier ability of C-Ch-F membranes.

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As an important cathode candidate for the high-performance sodium ion batteries (SIBs), P2-type oxides with layered structures are needed to balance the specific capacities and cycling stability. As a result, a cation and anion codoped strategy has been adopted to tune the electrochemical activity of the redox centers and modulate the structure properties. Herein, a series of P2-NaMnNiOF ( = 0, 0.

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