Crispr-Cas9-based long non-coding RNA interference and activation identified that the aberrant expression of Myc-regulated ST8SIA6 antisense RNA 1 promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in the formation, progression, and metastasis of cancer. This study aimed to explore the roles of the lncRNA ST8SIA6 antisense RNA 1 (ST8SIA6-AS1) in tumorigenesis and elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism of its upregulation in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Material And Methods: A total of 56 in-house pairs of HCC tissues were examined, and ST8SIA6-AS1 levels were determined through real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Associations of elevated cardiac biomarkers with hyperuricemia and mortality in US adults without prevalent cardiovascular disease.

Background: NT-proBNP (N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide), high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-troponin T), and high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-troponin I) have been widely recognized as significant cardiac biomarkers, and are increasingly being recommended for early risk identification in cardiovascular high-risk populations. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of elevated cardiac biomarkers (NT-proBNP, hs-troponin T, hs-troponin I) and their association with the risk of hyperuricemia in the general US adults without known cardiovascular disease. We further studied whether elevated cardiac biomarkers are associated with an increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in individuals with or without hyperuricemia.

A green strategy to realize the high value utilization of lignin for hydrogel formation.

Grafting lignin extracted from pulping black liquor onto hydrogel not only endows hydrogel with strong adsorption capacity, but also realizes the high value utilization of lignin, thereby alleviating the environmental pressure caused by the exhaust gas generated by direct combustion of black liquor. However, those lignin fragments have lost generous active functional groups as the high temperature polycondensation during industrial production, restricting the improvement of lignin-based hydrogel adsorption capacity. Herein, we propose a strategy combining amination and oxidation to prepare lignin derivatives with low molecular weight and high activity groups.

Simulation Investigation on the Influence Mechanism of Toluene and Heptane on the Aggregation of Asphaltene Molecules.

Asphaltenes are a group of compounds that are soluble in benzene and toluene but insoluble in nonpolar small molecule -alkanes. The asphaltene aggregation in the asphaltene-heptane-toluene system was studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, and the interaction between asphaltene molecules during this process was also revealed from the evolution of the density field, radial distribution function (RDF), and intermolecular distance of asphaltenes. Three main findings were made: (1) more asphaltene precipitates (heptane) were contained, and more asphaltene dimers or trimers were formed during the MD simulation; (2) asphaltene molecules interacted with each other to form aggregates in the form of π-π or H-bond interaction.

Association of sleep disorders with asthma: a meta-analysis.

Background: Animal experiments and clinical trials have revealed a potential relationship between sleep disorders and asthma. However, the associations between these factors remain unclear.

Material And Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases for eligible studies published before 30 December 2022.

Improved Antimicrobial Activity of Bovine Lactoferrin Peptide (LFcinB) Based on Rational Design.

Bovine lactoferrin peptide (LFcinB), as an antimicrobial peptide, is expected to be an alternative of antibiotics owing to its broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and specific mechanism. However, the weak antimicrobial activity, high hemolysis, and poor stability of LFcinB limited its applications in the field of biomedicine, food and agriculture. In order to improve the antimicrobial activity of LFcinB, five mutants were designed rationally, of which mutant LF4 (M10W/P16R/A24L) showed highest antimicrobial activity.

Online calculator for predicting the risk of malignancy in patients with pancreatic cystic neoplasms: A multicenter, retrospective study.

Background: Efficient and practical methods for predicting the risk of malignancy in patients with pancreatic cystic neoplasms (PCNs) are lacking.

Aim: To establish a nomogram-based online calculator for predicting the risk of malignancy in patients with PCNs.

Methods: In this study, the clinicopathological data of target patients in three medical centers were analyzed.

High extinction ratio and low backreflection polarization maintaining hollow-core to solid-core fiber interconnection.

We develop a hybrid cold/heat two-step splicing approach for low loss, low backreflection, and high polarization extinction ratio (PER) hollow-core to solid-core fiber interconnection. The employed hollow-core fiber (HCF) is our recently developed high-birefringence polarization-maintaining hollow-core fiber (PM-HCF) with a PER value of ∼30 dB, and the solid-core fiber (SCF) is a commercial Panda polarization-maintaining fiber (Panda fiber). Simultaneous low backreflection (<-35 dB), low insertion loss (IL) (∼0.

Effectiveness of Zhuling decoction on diuretic resistance in patients with heart failure: a randomized, controlled trial.

Objective: To test the effects of Zhuling decoction on patients with diuretic resistance in heart failure compared with a group of patients undergoing conventional treatment alone.

Methods: This research was a prospective, randomized, controlled study. From July 2018 to August 2020, 96 diuretic resistance patients from the Cardiovascular Research Center of Taicang Hospital affiliated with Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Grade III Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) were enrolled in the study.

Study on Restart Safety of Waxy Crude Pipelines Based on Reliability Principle under Constant Flow.

The restart process of waxy crude pipelines is an unsteady thermo-hydraulic coupling process, which mainly includes two modes of the constant flow and constant pressure in industry. However, some parameters involved in the restart process have obvious uncertainties, such as the operating parameters, physical parameters of crude oil, environmental parameters, and pipeline parameters, resulting in the traditional deterministic method that cannot scientifically describe the safety of the pipeline restart process. To do this, this study introduces the reliability-based limit state method and interference principle into the safety evaluation of waxy crude pipelines during the restart process.

Improving Superconducting Performance of Fe(Se, Te) with In Situ Formed Grain-Boundary Strengthening and Flux Pinning Centers.

It is well known that the existence of interstitial Fe is a great obstacle to enhancing the superconducting properties of the Fe(Se, Te) system. In this work, a silver and oxygen codoping effect toward enhancement of the superconductivity and flux pinning in Fe(Se, Te) bulks is reported. The oxygen ions from SeO can induce the precipitation of interstitial Fe as FeO, thus simultaneously optimizing the superconducting properties of Fe(Se, Te) and forming extra flux pinning centers, while the existence of Ag can enhance the intergrain connections of the polycrystalline material by improving the electron transport at grain boundaries.

Prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among female cabin crew in Taiwan.

Objectives: This study investigated the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort among female cabin crew through cabin tasks and demographic factors, including age and seniority.

Methods: This study conducted an online questionnaire survey targeted at female cabin crew in Taiwan and ensured that the sample size was with a statistical power of 0.95.

An Integral Recognition and Signaling for Electrochemical Assay of Protein Kinase Activity and Inhibitor by Reduced Graphene Oxide-Polydopamine-Silver Nanoparticle-Ti Nanocomposite.

A novel electrochemical biosensing method for protein kinase (PKA) activity was demonstrated by using a reduced graphene oxide-polydopamine-silver nanoparticle-Ti (rGO-PDA-AgNPs-Ti) nanocomposite. The obtained nanocomposite possessed an integral capability for phosphopeptide recognition and signal readout. The polydopamine modified reduced graphene oxide (rGO-PDA) was firstly prepared based on a self-polymerization method of dopamine.

General and passenger-relevant factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among Chinese female flight attendants.

Background: A high prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) has been reported among flight attendants. Identifying the root causes of these disorders may improve the health conditions of flight attendants and further improve flight safety and service quality.

Objective: In this study, we aimed to identify WMSD risk factors for a specific population, namely Chinese female flight attendants.

Ultrasensitive Electrochemical DNA Biosensor Fabrication by Coupling an Integral Multifunctional Zirconia-Reduced Graphene Oxide-Thionine Nanocomposite and Exonuclease I-Assisted Cleavage.

In this work, a simple but sensitive electrochemical DNA biosensor for nucleic acid detection was developed by taking advantage of exonuclease (Exo) I-assisted cleavage for background reduction and zirconia-reduced graphene oxide-thionine (ZrO-rGO-Thi) nanocomposite for integral DNA recognition, signal amplification, and reporting. The ZrO-rGO nanocomposite was obtained by a one-step hydrothermal synthesis method. Then, thionine was adsorbed onto the rGO surface, π-π stacking, as an excellent electrochemical probe.

Development and Preliminary Usability Evaluation of a Somatosensory Square Dance System for Older Chinese Persons: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Chinese square dancing, known as guangchang wu in Chinese, is a well-known public fitness activity that provides an entertaining way for older Chinese women to improve their flexibility, lower extremity strength, overall coordination, and balance. However, injuries, noise conflicts, and lack of space are challenging aspects of this activity. Somatosensory games (SG) are an increasingly popular physical fitness approach to enhance the selective attention of older persons with indoor engagement and exercises.

Study on demulsification and deoiling for O/W emulsion by microbubble pretreated resin.

The microbubble pretreated resin was used for demulsification and deoiling of the simulated O/W emulsion. The demulsification and deoiling performance and the influencing factors were investigated systematically. Experimental results indicate that the microbubble pretreated resin reaches a 97% oil removal within 80 min; on the contrary, oil removals are 90% and 85% for NaOH solution soaked and un-pretreated resins respectively.

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Work Input on Physical Education Teachers' Creative Teaching.

Objectives: To explore the influence of different background factors on middle school PE teachers' self-efficacy, work input and creative teaching, and to reveal the relationship between teaching self-efficacy and work input on creative teaching.

Methods: By means of self-efficacy, work engagement and creative teaching scale, a questionnaire survey was conducted among middle school PE teachers, and the data were processed and modeled by SPSS and AMOS statistical analysis software.

Results: Physical education (PE) teachers' self-teaching effectiveness was influenced by background factors such as gender, age, teaching age, full-time or part-time work and educational level.

Preparation of magnetic hydrogel microspheres of lignin derivate for application in water.

A low-cost and well-separated approach is introduced for adsorption pollutants in water. Chemical modified lignin is prepared with diethylenetriamine to enhance the reaction activities, then used to prepare lignin derivate magnetic hydrogel microspheres (LDMHMs) via blending with FeO. The LDMHMs are successful prepared by the determination of FT-IR data, and the morphology shown from SEM imagine indicates the LDMHMs are in nanosized.

Super-swelling lignin-based biopolymer hydrogels for soil water retention from paper industry waste.

Sources of pulping red liquor, which is produced by acidic sulfite cooking in paper industry, consisted of lignosulphonate and polysaccharide, commonly considered as waste or byproducts and used in low value, such as surfactant and adhesive are wide and its price is low. Here a novel method for high value-added utilization of the pulp and paper industry waste for fabricating super-swelling biopolymer hydrogels is introduced. In contrast to other costly utilizations, which are needed to separate red liquor or purify hemicellulose and lignin before using, it is first time to directly utilize red liquor to prepare hydrogels without pretreatment.

Insights into Substrate Specificity of NlpC/P60 Cell Wall Hydrolases Containing Bacterial SH3 Domains.

Unlabelled: Bacterial SH3 (SH3b) domains are commonly fused with papain-like Nlp/P60 cell wall hydrolase domains. To understand how the modular architecture of SH3b and NlpC/P60 affects the activity of the catalytic domain, three putative NlpC/P60 cell wall hydrolases were biochemically and structurally characterized. These enzymes all have γ-d-Glu-A2pm (A2pm is diaminopimelic acid) cysteine amidase (or dl-endopeptidase) activities but with different substrate specificities.

Unique requirements for mono- and polyubiquitination of the peroxisomal targeting signal co-receptor, Pex20.

In Pichia pastoris, the peroxisomal targeting signal 2 (PTS2)-dependent peroxisomal matrix protein import pathway requires the receptor, Pex7, and its co-receptor Pex20. A conserved lysine (Lys(19)) near the N terminus of Pex20 is required for its polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation, whereas a conserved cysteine (Cys(8)) is essential for its recycling. In this study, we found that Cys(8) is required for the DTT-sensitive mono- and diubiquitination of Pex20.

Recent advances in peroxisomal matrix protein import.

Peroxisomes are essential organelles responsible for many metabolic reactions, such as the oxidation of very long chain and branched fatty acids, D-amino acids and polyamines, as well as the production and turnover of hydrogen peroxide. They comprise a class of organelles called microbodies, including glycosomes, glyoxysomes and Woronin bodies. Dysfunction of human peroxisomes causes severe and often fatal peroxisome biogenesis disorders (PBDs).

Characterization of the anthranilate degradation pathway in Geobacillus thermodenitrificans NG80-2.

Anthranilate is an important intermediate of tryptophan metabolism. In this study, a hydroxylase system consisting of an FADH(2)-utilizing monooxygenase (GTNG_3160) and an FAD reductase (GTNG_3158), as well as a bifunctional riboflavin kinase/FMN adenylyltransferase (GTNG_3159), encoded in the anthranilate degradation gene cluster in Geobacillus thermodenitrificans NG80-2 were functionally characterized in vitro. GTNG_3159 produces FAD to be reduced by GTNG_3158 and the reduced FAD (FADH(2)) is utilized by GTNG_3160 to convert anthranilate to 3-hydroxyanthranilate (3-HAA), which is further degraded to acetyl-CoA through a meta-cleavage pathway also encoded in the gene cluster.