The fucoidan delivery system enhanced the anti-cervical cancer effect of caffeic acid.

Cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of mortality among women, and immunotherapy targeting the cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS)-stimulator of interferon genes (STING) pathway holds promise for its treatment. This study has developed nanoparticles based on fucoidan (Fu/CA NPs), successfully loading them with caffeic acid (CA) for application in cervical cancer therapy. In vitro experiments revealed that Fu/CA NPs significantly inhibited the proliferation of cervical cancer HeLa cells (by 65.

Plasma cell-free DNA Droplet Digital PCR provides rapid and efficient infectious microbiology diagnosis for febrile haematological patients.

Background: Febrile haematological patients are at high risk for potential bloodstream infections, the rapid and accurate identification of pathogens is crucial for clinical diagnosis and treatment. Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR) is a novel and ultra-sensitively molecular technique for the rapid detection of pathogens. We evaluated the ability of ddPCR to identify infectious etiologies to discuss the applicability of ddPCR in the diagnosis and treatment of infections for febrile haematological patients.

BGPSeg: Boundary-Guided Primitive Instance Segmentation of Point Clouds.

Point cloud primitive instance segmentation is critical for understanding the geometric shapes of man-made objects. Existing learning-based methods mainly focus on learning high-dimensional feature representations of points and further perform clustering or region growing to obtain corresponding primitive instances. However, these features generally cannot accurately represent the discriminability between instances, especially near the boundaries or in regions with small differences in geometric properties.

Multi-Scale Spatio-Temporal Attention Network for Epileptic Seizure Prediction.

Epileptic seizure prediction from electroencephalogram (EEG) data has attracted much attention in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. Most of the existing methods in literature extract either spatial or temporal features at a single scale from EEG data, however, their learned features are generally less discriminative since the EEG data is complex and severely noisy in general, leading to low-accuracy predictions. To address this problem, we propose a Multi-scale Spatio-temporal Attention Network to learn discriminative features for seizure prediction, called MSAN, which contains a backbone module, a spatial pyramid module, and a multi-scale sequential aggregation module.

Decoding Single-Pellet Retrieval Task From Local Field Potentials in Pre- and Post-Stroke Motor Areas: Insights Into Interhemispheric Connectivity Difference.

Objective: Intracortical brain-machine interfaces (iBMIs) hold promise for restoring communication and movement in stroke-paralyzed individuals. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of using local field potentials (LFPs) for decoding single-pellet retrieval (SPR) tasks in iBMIs. However, most research has relied on LFPs from healthy rats rather than those affected by stroke.

BCLAF1 Regulates Osteoarthritic Cartilage Degradation Through Interaction with LAMTOR2.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive degenerative joint disorder with cartilage degradation as the primary cause of joint pain and loss of joint function. B-cell lymphoma-2-associated transcription factor 1 (BCLAF1) is a key regulator of apoptosis and serves as a signal transducer of the NFκB and Hif-1α pathways, both of which are involved in osteoarthritic cartilage degradation. However, whether BCLAF1 contributes to the pathogenesis of OA remains unclear.

CDCA3-MYC positive feedback loop promotes bladder cancer progression via ENO1-mediated glycolysis.

Background: Bladder cancer (BLCA) ranks among the most prevalent malignancies of the urinary system, with its clinical diagnosis predominantly reliant on invasive procedures. Traditional chemotherapy regimens exhibit significant limitations, underscoring the urgency of identifying novel diagnostic biomarkers and strategies to enhance chemotherapy efficacy. CDCA3 has been recognized as a facilitator of BLCA progression, activated by MYBL2.

Nrf2 activators for the treatment of rare iron overload diseases: From bench to bedside.

Iron overload and related oxidative damage are seen in many rare diseases, due to mutation of iron homeostasis-related genes. As a core regulator on cellular antioxidant reaction, Nrf2 can also decrease systemic and cellular iron levels by regulating iron-related genes and pathways, making Nrf2 activators very good candidates for the treatment of iron overload disorders. Successful examples include the clinical use of omaveloxolone for Friedreich's Ataxia and dimethyl fumarate for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

A biodegradable capacitive-coupling neurostimulator for wireless electroceutical treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Electroceuticals based on peripheral nerve stimulation offer promising treatment for refractory inflammatory diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). For pediatric IBD (PIBD) patients, wireless, biodegradable miniaturized bioelectronic devices are crucial to prevent neural damage and support neural development during and after therapy. Here we demonstrate a battery-free, miniaturized neurostimulator based on biodegradable materials and capacitive-coupling wireless power transfer.

Exploring the effects of combined nostalgic activities and music therapy on Alzheimer's disease outcomes.

Objective: Exploring the effects of combination of nostalgic activity-based therapies, including music therapy on cognitive function, negative emotions, and sleep quality in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: A total of 63 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease who were treated at the Sichuan Provincial Psychiatric Center of the People's Hospital of Sichuan Province from January to June 2023 were selected as the research subjects. They were randomly divided into a study group ( = 31) and a control group ( = 32) using a random number table method.

The introduction of nano zero-valent iron in constructed wetlands simultaneously enhanced the removal of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and nutrients.

Constructed wetland (CW) serve as the final ecological barrier for hazardous materials entering the natural water environment. Due to the ecological toxicity and difficult bioutilization characteristics of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) itself, CW technology faces great challenges in the field of PFOA remediation. In this study, nano zero-valent iron (nZVI) was introduced into CWs to explore the mechanism of the synergistic removal of PFOA and nutrients in nZVI-CW system.

Development of a twin Frisch-grid ionization chamber for correlated fission fragments studies.

A Twin Frisch-Grid Ionization Chamber (TFGIC) for the measurement of correlated fission fragments has been built in the Institute of Nuclear Physics and Chemistry (INPC). The design and performance testing, as well as data analysis of fission experiments, have been described in this paper. The results of performance testing experiment with a compound alpha source of Am showed that the ratio of the electric field between the drift region and collection region should be greater than a critical value.

JMJD6 Rewires ATF4-Dependent Glutathione Metabolism to Confer Ferroptosis Resistance in SPOP-Mutated Prostate Cancer.

Ferroptosis inducers have shown therapeutic potential in prostate cancer (PCa), but tumor heterogeneity poses a barrier to their efficacy. Distinguishing the regulators orchestrating metabolic crosstalk between cancer cells could shed light on therapeutic strategies to more robustly activate ferroptosis. Here, we found that aberrant accumulation of jumonji domain containing 6 (JMJD6) proteins correlated with poorer prognosis of PCa patients.

A strategy to reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies in patients with tPSA >10 ng ml-1 and PI-RADS 1-3.

We propose a strategy to reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies in Chinese patients with total prostate-specific antigen (tPSA) >10 ng ml-1 and Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) scores between 1 and 3. Clinical data derived from 517 patients of The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC (Hefei, China) from January 2020 to December 2023 who met the screening criteria for the study were retrospectively collected. Independent predictors were identified via univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Circulating insulin-like growth factor-1 and the risk of multiple sclerosis: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Circulating insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is positively associated with the risks of certain neurological disorders, including stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. However, the association of IGF-1 with the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS) remains unclear.

Methods: A total of 348,324 participants at baseline were included from the UK biobank in this prospective study.

Association between metabolic score for visceral fat index and BMI-adjusted skeletal muscle mass index in American adults.

Background: The metabolic score for visceral fat (METS-VF) is a recently identified index for evaluating visceral fat, also referred to as abdominal obesity. The skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) serves as a critical measure for assessing muscle mass and sarcopenia. Both obesity and the reduction of muscle mass can significantly affect human health.

Benzo[1,2-b:6,5-b']dithiophene-4,5-diamine: A New Fluorescent Probe for the High-Sensitivity and Real-Time Visual Monitoring of Phosgene.

The detection of highly toxic chemicals such as phosgene is crucial for addressing the severe threats to human health and public safety posed by terrorist attacks and industrial mishaps. However, timely and precise monitoring of phosgene at a low cost remains a significant challenge. This work is the first to report a novel fluorescent system based on the Intramolecular Charge Transfer (ICT) effect, which can rapidly detect phosgene in both solution and gas phases with high sensitivity by integrating a benzo[1,2-b:6,5-b']dithiophene-4,5-diamine (BDTA) probe.

Carbene-induced ring-opening reactions of five-/six-membered cyclic ethers: expanding the frontiers of functional group introduction and molecular architecture construction.

The multi-component ring-opening reactions of cyclic ethers offer an efficient strategy for the rapid introduction of multiple functional groups and the construction of complex molecular architectures. Despite the minimal ring strain in five- and six-membered rings presenting a significant challenge for ring-opening, advancements have been made. Traditional acid-catalyzed pathways have been complemented by a novel approach involving carbene-induced oxonium intermediate formation, which has emerged in recent years and expanded the selectivity of ring-opening reactions.

Rare and common genetic variants underlying the risk of Hirschsprung's disease.

Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a congenital enteric neuropathic disorder characterized by high heritability (>80%) and polygenic inheritance (>20 genes). The previous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) identified several common variants associated with HSCR and demonstrated increased predictive performance for HSCR risk in Europeans using a genetic risk score, there remains a notable gap in knowledge regarding Chinese populations. We conducted whole exome sequencing in a HSCR case cohort in Chinese.

Epigenetics in the modern era of crop improvements.

Epigenetic mechanisms are integral to plant growth, development, and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Over the past two decades, our comprehension of these complex regulatory processes has expanded remarkably, producing a substantial body of knowledge on both locus-specific mechanisms and genome-wide regulatory patterns. Studies initially grounded in the model plant Arabidopsis have been broadened to encompass a diverse array of crop species, revealing the multifaceted roles of epigenetics in physiological and agronomic traits.

Elucidation of Factors Affecting the Age-Dependent Cancer Occurrence Rates.

Cancer occurrence rates exhibit diverse age-related patterns, and understanding them may shed new and important light on the drivers of cancer evolution. This study systematically analyzes the age-dependent occurrence rates of 23 carcinoma types, focusing on their age-dependent distribution patterns, the determinants of peak occurrence ages, and the significant difference between the two genders. According to the SEER reports, these cancer types have two types of age-dependent occurrence rate (ADOR) distributions, with most having a unimodal distribution and a few having a bimodal distribution.

Effects of BLa80 on fecal and mucosal flora and stem cell factor/c-kit signaling pathway in simulated microgravity rats.

Background: Simulated microgravity environment can lead to gastrointestinal motility disturbance. The pathogenesis of gastrointestinal motility disorders is closely related to the stem cell factor (SCF)/c-kit signaling pathway associated with intestinal flora and Cajal stromal cells. Moreover, intestinal flora can also affect the regulation of SCF/c-kit signaling pathway, thus affecting the expression of Cajal stromal cells.

Composition of the isopropanol-soluble portion and fast pyrolysis product distribution of the insoluble part from Pakistani lignite.

Pakistani lignite (PLC) was thermally dissolved at 300 °C using isopropanol (IPA) to obtain a soluble portion (SP) and insoluble portion (ISP). Proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTG) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) results were compared to explore the influence of the thermal dissolution process on the pyrolysis for PLC and ISP. Results showed that the thermal dissolution process mainly dissolved some light components of low-rank coal, and more phenols, aldehydes, esters and ethers were found in the SP, indicating that low-carbon alcohols can break the ether bridge bond in coal and generate oxygen-containing organic compounds (OCOCs).

Identification of Three Genotypes in Largemouth Bass () and Their Differential Physiological Responses to Feed Domestication.

Diverse feeding habits in teleosts involve a wide range of appetite-regulating factors. As an appetite-suppressing gene, the polymorphisms of in largemouth bass () were validated via sequencing and high-resolution melting (HRM). The frequency distribution of different genotypes were analyzed in two populations, and physiological responses of different genotypes to feed domestication were investigated.